Choice
by WishFlower
Summary: Everyone has choices to make. And what if Draco chose to accept Dumbledore's offer of protection? Set during the summer after their sixth year. AU Dramione
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Summary: What if Draco accepted Dumbledore's offer of protection up on the tower at the end up book 6? Set in the summer after their sixth year. Draco/Hermione. I so don't own anything, because if i did, the series would have ended a **_**little **_**bit differently. **** no disrespect to JKR of course. **

**Prologue:**

"_Draco, come on. We have stood out here discussing your ways and means of trying to kill me but I suggest that you just do it or drop your wand. I really don't like indecisiveness." Dumbledore said tiredly, leaning heavily against the stone wall of the tower for support. _

"_Just shut up! You're not the boss of me! I'll kill you when I'm ready!" Draco snapped back. _

"_You are not a killer, Draco." _

"_How do you know who I am?! I can do this! I was _chosen!" _Draco said a little hysterically. _

"_Murder is not as easy as you think it is. To take another human life is – ahhhh." Dumbledore said in pain as he slid down the wall another couple of feet. _

_Draco's wand shook slightly. He tried to control his shivering body and wide eyes. He could do this! He was ready! He had been preparing all year for this moment! Dumbledore was wandless and weak, this is the perfect moment. Go, he told himself, do it! Do it! DO IT! But he didn't he just kept staring at the man who taught him everything he ever wanted to know since he was eleven years old. _

_The silence stretched on and Dumbledore sighed, "We both know that you are not going to kill me – shush boy." He said as Draco tried to interrupt, "So let's talk about your choices."_

"_I don't _have _any choices! I have to kill you! Or else he'll kill my family." He whispered. He was ashamed to admit that hot tears were rising in his eyes. His trembling had gotten worse than ever. _

"_The Order of the Phoenix can hide you and your mother, we can set up a safe location with a Secret Keeper and defensive spells. And when your father comes out of Azkaban, we can protect him as well." Dumbledore said seriously. _

_Draco shook his head wildly, "No! That's no good! He'll find me and he'll... and he'll..." Draco swallowed the sob just before it broke free from his lips. _

"_The Order is just as powerful as your Dark Lord, we can keep you safe. Please, Draco. You are not a killer." Dumbledore's eyes were shut in pain and his voice was hardly above a whisper. Truthfully, Draco didn't want to kill Dumbledore, he never had. And that fact that Dumbledore was begging Draco to let him protect him even thought it would put himself in danger.... No one had ever done anything like that for him before. It made him feel very.... loved and.... special. Draco wasn't used to feeling that. _

_He couldn't speak; mute tears had stolen his voice. So he just nodded silently. _

_Dumbledore sighed in relief, "Good." He murmured, "But I can hear your ex-comrades coming, quick! Go to the other side of the tower until I say it's safe to come out!" _

"_But...!" Draco felt a strange conflicting sort of feeling. He was only used to worrying about his own safety, but Dumbledore just saved him and his family. _

"Go!_" Dumbledore demanded. There was no arguing with him so Draco ran to the other side of the round tower and hid. He couldn't hear everything that was being said, but he did hear one thing that chilled him to the bone. _

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!" A man's voice screamed. Draco felt a coldness in the pit of his stomach when he recognized the voice. Snape just killed Dumbledore. _

_He ran out towards them but they had already left. With a strange light-headedness, he watched Dumbledore fall from the top of Astronomy Tower and hit the ground. _

_He felt someone pat his back and he whirled around in surprise, flashing out his wand._

_It was just Potter. Wait – where the hell did Potter come from? _

"_I heard what you said." Potter was eavesdropping. Screw him. But he was in too much of a shock to do anything but stare at him and the dark spot that was Dumbledore's body on the ground. He blinked his eyes and his mouth was hanging open. It surprised him a little that he felt remorse for Dumbledore's death. And not the selfish kind of remorse where Draco would probably be killed now that no one would protect him, it was real. He was honestly sad that Dumbledore was dead. How odd. _

_Potter had tears in his eyes and his body was shaking as well. _

"_I-I-I have to.... go down..... and.... and...see..." Potter stuttered with the effort of holding back his tears. Normally, Draco would have mocked him for this, but he was honestly too exhausted. _

"_Go and hide in the Room of Requirement or something until we can get this straightened out and get you somewhere safe." Harry said seriously. He was doing what Dumbledore couldn't do, even though Draco was his enemy and just tried to kill his father-figure, he wouldn't let Dumbledore down. _Gryffindors_. _

_Draco hid in the room until the next day when Potter found him there. He would take this to his grave, but he actually cried the whole night long. He cried for things he couldn't understand, his grief for Dumbledore's death, his fear for his life and his parent's lives and his confusion about what is happening right now. _

_Potter managed to convince the others that Dumbledore wanted the Malfoy's protected. No one liked that plan but they did it anyways. Because that's what Dumbledore wanted. _

**A/N thats basically the second last chapter of the 6****th**** book, in dracos POV and with a twist. Okay im a bit tired right now and ill try to update as much as i can, i have a plan of action, never fear. Okay R&R and tell me what you think. **


	2. Chapter One

**A/N alright here it is! The first official chapter of Choice. I hope everyone likes it and i don't own anything accept a half empty can of pepsi.**

Draco, his mother and Mad-Eye Moody apparated to the safe house. Moody showed them the strip of paper that read:

_24 Apple Blossom Lane, Rothbury, Northumberland, England _

He concentrated hard on that address and when he looked up again, a big, white house sat in front of him. Moody wasn't the secret keeper, obviously, and couldn't directly tell him about the house, but the address was enough. Draco had to admit, the house was nice. Not as nice as Malfoy Manor, of course, but nice.

It was white with blue shutters and three floors. It had a quaint little veranda with a blue chair with a white cushion on it. It had flowers growing along the edge of the house and a stone path leading to the dirt road Draco was standing on. The windows had window boxes with flowers in them and most of the windows were open with lacy curtains blowing in the breeze. The heavy scent of apple blossoms was in the air and Draco spotted an apple orchard a few hundred feet back from the house. No other house could be seen from where Draco was standing; they look as if they were completely alone here.

"What do you think of Blossom Manor?" Moody asked gruffly.

Draco snickered, "_Blossom _Manor?"

"It's Arthur's second cousins wife's brother's place and his wife named it. They let us borrow it for as long as we need; they don't use it much." Moody glared at Draco with his normal eye while his magical one zoomed in his head. Draco shivered. He had never gotten over the experience of being turned into a ferret in front of the whole school, and even though Moody didn't do it; the man who did looked just like him.

Moody unlocked the front door and led them inside. The walls were an off-white colour and the floors were honey-coloured wood. The windows let in tons of light, so no other light was needed. Moody led them through the place. The old fashioned parlour was in the front of the house, with a doorway leading to the entrance hall. Across from the entrance hall was a study and down the hall was the dining room and then the kitchen at the back of the house. There was a set of servant stairs in the kitchen leading upstairs to the laundry room. The rest of the house, the two upstairs floors, was just bedrooms with two bathrooms on each floor.

The house was lovely and sweet looking but it wasn't home to Draco. His home was the cold and uninviting Malfoy Manor.

"So this is it. The Weasley's will be coming in a few days and someone from the Order will be checking on you every day. Until the Weasley's get here, you're basically on your own." Moody said as he stood in the doorway of Narcissa and Draco's new home.

"The Weasley's are coming?!" Draco asked in horror. If those flea-bitten gingers were coming, than so was Granger and Potter.

"That's right. They will be looking after you so treat them with respect. They moved away from their home and put themselves in danger just to keep you lot alive." Now both of Moody's eyes were staring at Draco and he felt like he was being searched.

Then Moody left and it was just him and his mother.

He looked at his mother who had been silent ever since he told her that they were now on the run. Her white blonde locks were hanging in front of her face and her silver eyes had more lines around them then he was used to. She looked exhausted.

"Come on, mum. Let's find you a room." Draco led his mother up both flights of stairs until he got to the third floor. The house was a bit like a hotel, there were so many empty rooms with no one to sleep in them. He found his mother a pretty room with a purple quilt on the bed and a view of the surrounding hills and trees. She sat on the bed and just stared out the window.

Draco swallowed the lump in his throat. Did she hate him? He wouldn't blame her if she did. Her life is in danger because of him. Even if she didn't hate him, he could hate himself enough for the both of them.

The next few days, Draco spent wandering the grounds alone. New members of the Order came to check on him and Narcissa each day, but they never stayed long, never more than half an hour. Draco found himself starving for company. His mother still wasn't speaking and the house was so big and airy, he felt completely alone. He slept in the room next to his mothers and wondered when Voldemort would find him and kill him.

He woke up to s strange noise a few days later. It sounded like people were in the house. He grabbed his wand and carefully opened the door. His caution disappeared when he saw the bandy-legged ginger cat sitting outside his bedroom door. It was just his babysitters.

He went down to the kitchen through the main stairs and was shocked to see an orange circus. Everywhere he looked people were shouting, running, throwing things, cooking and laughing. On closer look, there were only five people in the room, but by the amount of noise and mess they were making, you'd swear there was a dozen. The youngest weasel sat with her father at the table, and the frumpy, mother weasel was flipping eggs and bacon in a frying pan by the window over the stove. And the weasel and the mudblood that were his age were arguing and shouting by the back door.

And then they caught sight of him and fell silent.

"Good morning, Mal - Draco." Mother Weasel said fake cheerfully. But the glare on her face gave her emotions away. Draco was taught to never give his emotions away.

He nodded coolly in her direction and surveyed the rest of the room. They were all staring at them with their mouths hanging open.

"Well, I'm off to work. Goodbye, love." Mr. Weasley kissed his wife on her cheek, making her blush, and then flooed off to his job.

Draco couldn't remember the last time his own father had called his mother 'love'.

Mrs. Weasley gestured for him to sit at the table and he did. Ginny wiggled away when he sat on her side of the table. He wasn't offended. He told himself sternly. Why should he be offended that the weaslette didn't want to sit next to him?

Weasley and Granger sat across from him. Weasley ate loudly and with his mouth open. It was disgusting. Draco didn't blame Granger for smacking him in the arm and telling him to "Eat like a human being!"

The meal was awkward and silent and Draco bolted from the table as soon as he was finished. He dressed quickly – black button down shirt and black dress pants – and washed his face and combed his hair and brushed his teeth. He then went back down to the kitchen to see what everyone else was doing.

He walked straight into an argument.

"But I don't want him here, mum!" Ginny cried and pouted.

"Neither do I, but we have no choice. He is in danger now and we have to help him." Mrs. Weasley said sternly.

"But why did we have to move for him?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Be logical, Ron! The Death Eaters will check all the members of the order's houses first so it's only smart to be in a place they won't expect us to be! And I think you should be a little nicer to Malfoy! Very dangerous people want him dead and he's stuck with us!" Hermione said.

"Don't you mean _we're _stuck with _him?" _Ron said meanly.

"Think about Sirius! He was as trapped as Malfoy is now!" Hermione scolded them all. The all looked a little ashamed.

"But that's different, 'Mione! Sirius is a cool bloke and Malfoy is a slimy git!" Ron said.

Mrs. Weasley caught sight of Draco lurking in the doorway and gasped and turned as red as her hair. She turned back around and continued with her dishes. The others looked awkward and ashamed. Good. Draco shot them a withering look and stomped back to his room. Who cared if they didn't want to be here as much as he did? What did it matter that they hated him and thought it would easier to just throw him to the wolves, so to speak? He hated them, and they hated him. End of story.

He spent the day in his room reading old books from the bookshelf in there and trying to convince his mother to eat something. He wished he was back home.

**A/N okay thats the 1****st**** chapter! R&R and tell me what you think! Ill update as soon as i can. **


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N ok second chapter is up. I hope everyone is liking it so far. **

It was too hot. Damn the summer weather. Draco sat on the chair in his room breathing in the too sickly sweet apple blossom smell and hearing the sounds of shrieks and laughter coming from the Quidditch game the two Weasleys and Granger were playing. He tried to tune them out and focus on his Ancient Rune book by it just wasn't cutting it this time. He was worried sick about his mother who still refused to talk or eat and he was miserable and scared. Life sucked.

His mother toddled into his room and blinked her owlish eyes at him. He sighed and put his book down and went over to her. She grabbed his hand and dragged him down to the kitchen.

"I love him, Draco." She said unexpectedly.

"Wh-what?" Draco stuttered. His mother hadn't spoken in a week. Not since the day they came here, they day after Draco watched Dumbledore die.

"I love your father, Draco. I just thought you should know." She said softly. She hasn't spoken in forever and this is what she chooses to talk about? Women.

He poured her a bowl of cereal he found in the cupboard. He passed it to her and cut up some fresh fruit for her and got her a glass of juice.

She ate quietly and slowly.

"Why didn't you speak until now, mother?" Draco asked Narcissa.

"I-I guess I was just scared. Our lives were turned upside down. I didn't know what to say." She whispered.

He patted his mother's hand. With his father in Azkaban, it was now Draco's job to protect her.

Their comfortable silence was interrupted by the loud arrival of Ginny, Ron and Hermione.

"Just admit it, 'Mione! You're a terrible Quidditch player!" Ron said loudly.

"If people were meant to be off the ground, they'd have wings!" She said stubbornly.

Ginny laughed and Crookshanks followed them in through the back door.

"I think I'll take a walk." Narcissa said quietly and stood up from the table and went out into the garden.

"What are you staring at, Malfoy?" Ron asked sharply.

Draco smirked, "Your hair. At first I thought your head was on fire."

Ron flushed and pulled out his wand. Hermione stopped him and glared at Draco. He glared back. Then he stomped upstairs.

He stayed in his room for the rest of the day. He heard his mother come in from her walk and talk to Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. She didn't come back upstairs. He heard them eating and talking. No one came upstairs for him. He felt slightly betrayed by his mother, if he hated people, shouldn't his family hate those people too?

He couldn't sleep all night long. He was ridiculously hot and lonely. Even his own mother had abandoned him for Potter's minions. He finally decided to just get out of bed when the sun rose. He didn't bother with shoes or a sweater; he just went down with his pajamas on. When he got to the kitchen, he didn't really feel like eating so he took a walk outside. His bare feet soon grew wet from the dew covered grass. Soon, he was passing through the apple orchard and then he was walking through the woods behind the house. After another half an hour or so, he stopped.

It was like a dream. He was in a little garden, unseen and abandoned by the house. The garden had obviously not seen a human for some time, weeds had taken over, but that didn't stop the flowers from growing. It was roses, he could tell, white roses. They were breathtaking. The early morning sunlight hit them at all the right angles, highlighting their cold loveliness. They still flourished, even though the weeds were taking over their space.

It looked like this was a very special place for the owners of the house. There was a huge white marble fountain in the middle of this garden and a white stone bench near the back. For light, jam jars had been hung up with little candle stubs in them. This place was amazing. Draco was secretly a romantic, but no one ever bothered to look beneath his cold, protective armour, so that was his secret.

He felt he owed it to the garden to clean it up and put it back to its obvious former glory. He looked over his garden one last time, taking in the cool beauty of the fountain, stone bench, and white roses and, what's that? He thought to himself. It looked like an overgrown path. He pushed through the trees to see more white roses and a pond. The pond was ringed in the roses with more jam jars hung about the clearing. He loved this place.

He ran back to the house and through the kitchen.

"Draco!" His mother called sharply.

He skidded to a stop. "What?"

"Where were you? And why are you so muddy?" She said from the breakfast table. Mr Weasley had left already for the Ministry and Mrs Weasley was pretending to be deaf to avoid listening to their conversation.

"I went for a walk." He said nonchalantly. He would never tell anyone about that garden, it was _his. _

She glared at him suspiciously and went back to her oatmeal. He thinks that all mothers know how to glare like that. Just as he was running upstairs, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were coming down.

"Why are you so dirty, ferret breath?" Ron said cruelly.

Hermione smacked him in the arm and told him, severely to "Shut up, Ronald!"

He really didn't give a damn about those losers right now. He more important things to worry about. He dressed quickly than ran down to the study in the front of the house. The house didn't have a library, so the study bookshelf would have to do.

He scanned the titles but nothing fit. _1001 Ways to Cure Bad Breath, the Pocket Guide of Useful Spells, Dragon Taming And You. _He couldn't find one on how to clean a garden. If he didn't find a spell book soon he would have to clean it by hand! Like a common muggle! He shuddered at the thought.

"What are you looking for?" A voice asked from the doorway.

He spun around and raised his wand.

"Calm down, it's just me." Granger raised her hands in surrender.

"What do you want?" He asked sharply.

"I want to know what has you so bothered! You went for a walk at the crack of dawn, you haven't eaten since yesterday's lunch, Ron insulted you and you ignored him and now you scouring the bookshelf like it's a matter of life and death!" She exclaimed.

He hesitated. Natural instincts told him to tell her to get lost and maybe call her a mudblood. But she was the biggest bookworm he knew and if someone needed help finding a book, she was the person to ask.

She caught onto his hesitancy and said, "I don't have to tell Ron or Ginny if you don't want me to."

"......Fine." He said slowly. "I'm looking for a book on magical gardening. Like how to pull weeds and stuff."

She nodded and looked thoughtfully around the room. "Well, I'll take this end, and you take that end and we'll see what we come up with."

They spent the entire morning digging around that study. Around noon, his stomach gave a very audible grumbling noise and Hermione smirked at him and said, "Let's go get something to eat."

Mrs Weasley was serving a piping hot stew to Ginny, Ron and Narcissa.

"Mmmm! That's smells delicious!" Hermione said and sat next to Ginny.

"Where have you two been all morning?" Narcissa asked them.

"In the study." Draco said quickly before Hermione could answer, he wanted this to go his way. "Granger's helping me learn some defensive spells." It was the best he could come up with on such short notice.

Narcissa nodded and put a spoonful of the stew in her mouth, "This is delicious, Molly." She said shyly.

Mrs Weasley blushed, "Why thank you, Narcissa. It's a family recipe."

And just like that, they became friends.

"Draco, you silly boy! Sit down now! You haven't eaten anything for nearly twenty-four hours! Eat!" Mrs Weasley shoved a bowl in his face and shoved him into a chair.

The stew was amazing. He ended up eating three bowls of it. He could tell Mrs Weasley was pleased.

Afterwards, he and Hermione went back to the study to keep looking. Just when they could smell Mrs Weasley's delicious food cooking for dinner, Hermione cried, "Oooh! Look at this one!"

He sat next to her and leaned over the text. He flipped through and smiled slightly at each spell he saw.

"This is perfect." He breathed.

She nodded. Was she blushing or was she always that rosy-cheeked? Draco wondered as a strand of chestnut hair fell in front of her pink cheeks. He brushed it back and met her eyes. He felt a strange swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach. Her face was so close to his, he could almost taste her breath....

"Hey, guys." Ron said from the doorway. Draco hadn't even heard him come in.

Draco jumped away from Hermione and almost blushed at how close they were sitting on the window seat. She was avoiding his gaze and looking at her hands.

Ron was glaring at Draco and Draco narrowed his eyes. He saw Ron slowly reach for his wand, so Draco did the same. Just as both wands were pulled out, Hermione jumped between them and said, "Oh, can't you two stop it?! I am so tired of all this fighting!"

She then stomped out of the room, with Ron chasing after her.

Whatever. Draco had what he needed.

**A/N thanx for the reviews and i hope you all like it so far! **


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N i cant think of anything to say and i don't own anything. My friend said the sweetest thing today: when your in love you don't want to go to sleep because reality is better than dreaming. Isn't that romantic? **

Every day, Draco would go down to his garden and fix it up. He made the weeds shrink back into the earth and pond free of grime and mildew. He polished the bench and the fountain and was just thinking of a way to make the fountain work again.

It was around one in the morning and Draco couldn't sleep. He had just woken up from the most horrible nightmare ever. Hermione had given him up to Voldemort and The Dark Lord was torturing him slowly while his Aunt Bella laughed manically by his side. He woke in a cold sweat and gasped for breath. His throat felt dry and parched and his limbs were like lead. He shivered and felt claustrophobic lying in his bed so he went down to the kitchen.

He had just walked in when he heard someone come up behind him. The lights were off so he couldn't even see their shadow on the wall. He suddenly had a vision of his dream, being tortured while people laughed. He spun around angrily, brandishing his wand and screaming, "STUPEFY!"

The person shrieked and fell to the floor; he could see their outline from the brief red light the spell made. He turned on the light and went over to see who snuck up on him.

His dry throat felt even drier now. Hermione lay on the floor with her eyes shut and her lips parted in an 'O' of surprise. His heart stopped. He can't believe he just stunned Hermione. She lay crumpled on the floor as if she was.... as if she was.....

Draco dropped to the floor beside her. His voice trembled as he whispered, "_Enervate." _

Her eye lids fluttered and she sat up quickly. She swayed so Draco put his arm around her. "Easy, take it slowly."

She rubbed her and head and muttered, "Why'd you stun me?"

"I-I had a bad dream, and I was only half asleep and..." it sounded even more ridiculous out loud.

She gave him a look and sighed, "Well, now you owe me."

"Yes, yes, I do!" He agreed quickly, anything to keep her from telling on him.

She gave him a sly look out of the corner her eye, "Show me your garden."

"My – my what?" He asked in shock. He realized she was still in his arms; he stood up and turned away from her, a million different thoughts zooming through his head.

"Come on, I know you have one. You disappear all day and you wanted that book on gardens, let me see!" She cried.

He bit his lip and frowned. She has kept her promise and not told anyone about the book and he _did _just stun her, but she was part of the Golden Trio! She was the best friend to his sworn enemy! He happened to glance back at her face. But the hopeful look in her brown eyes gave him that funny feeling in his stomach, so he looked away.

"Please, Draco." She asked softly.

His heart stopped and his stomach fell to the floor. All she did was say his name, but it was like she had put some kind of spell on him. He shivered when he met her eyes. Her eyes were so wide and she had a little bump on the side of her head from when she hit the floor. He felt sick just looking at it; he couldn't believe he had done that to her.

"Alright, came with me." He said quietly and held open the door for her. She ran past him out into the night air. He led her all the way to his special place.

She gasped when she saw it. She stared wide-eyed at his roses and the fountain and the jam jars.

"It's – this is amazing, Draco!" She said wonderingly. He blushed again when she said his name.

"Thank you.... Hermione." He said shyly.

She glanced back at him in surprise and smiled. He held her eyes for a minute longer and she blushed.

She went around touching the delicate petals of the white roses. The moon was full and bright enough in the clearing to not really need to light the candles in the hanging jam jars to see.

"This place is beautiful; it's like something out of a story. It's just like the _Secret Garden!" _She exclaimed.

"What's the secret garden?" He asked her.

"It's a muggle story about two kids finding an abandoned garden and they fix it up." She told him.

She wandered around the bench and through the path to the pond. He followed her and stood next to her by the water's edge. Their reflections shimmered and wavered on the surface of the black water. Their reflection eyes met. Draco felt his heart stop again. He looked up to meet Hermione's real eyes. Her eyes looked nearly black in the darkness and her hair equally as dark. Her lips looked blood red and her skin snow white. She looked strange in the moonlight, but she seemed to fit in the haunted garden. He leaned down towards her and it looked like she was leaning up, but a frog splashing into the pond startled her away from him. He didn't know if he was relieved or disappointed that she was moving away from him.

"We should get back now." She whispered. He nodded and they made their way back to the manor house.

He held open the door for her and she took the servants stairs back upstairs. He went the main way; Draco Malfoy would _never _use something that was meant for the servants. It wasn't until he was back in his bed that he didn't know why Hermione came downstairs in the first place.

He woke up the next morning with the feeling that something was sitting on his chest. He gasped for breath and opened his eyes. He screamed as he came face to face with a hairy orange monster. He struggled to sit up but, damn, that thing was heavy. He took a closer look at the beast to see it was Hermione's psycho ginger monster. He shoved as hard as he could to get the thing off, and the fat ass cat landed on the floor with a _smash. _He heard the thing growl so he booked it out of his room as fast as possible. The monster chased him down the hall and the stairs until he got to the kitchen. He shoved past Ron and stood by the back door. Dammit. The cat had him cornered. The beast growled at him and Draco swore it was smirking at him.

"Stop it Crookshanks!" Hermione reprimanded her cat from the counter.

It's a cat! Draco wanted to scream at her. It won't listen to you!

The cat (monster) growled one last time and stomped out of the kitchen. Draco was staring in horror at the place where the mutant cat was when he heard the first giggle. He looked up sharply.

"I-I'm sorry!" Ginny said, laughing. "But you looked so scared!"

Ron was clutching his sides and absolutely roaring with laughter so much that he couldn't speak. Hermione was pink in the face and trying valiantly to hold back her laughter and even his own mother and Mrs Weasley had big smiles on their faces.

He felt his guard come back up. He hated when he was laughed at. They wouldn't stop and he couldn't take it anymore.

"You think this is funny, do you Weasley? You know what I think is funny? Your creepy little crush on Granger. And speaking of the mudblood, your hair looks as if you have, lived in a cave as a cavewoman for a month. Stop looking at me like that!" He was going to say more but her hurt and disappointed look made him shut up and run back upstairs.

He collapsed onto his bed. How _dare _they think they are better than him! He is a Malfoy for crying out loud! And that cat was out to get him! He couldn't stand it when he was laughed at; it made him feel unimportant and alone. He was positively shaking with rage and regret and didn't leave his room for quite some time. When he did leave, it was the middle of the afternoon and no one was in sight.

He snuck downstairs and through the kitchen and sprinted past the lawn and orchard and through the forest. Thank God he didn't see anyone. He heard a rustling of the leaves behind him and he turned around warily. There stood Granger with leaves in her hair and dirt on her cheek.

"What do you want, Granger." He said viciously.

"I wanted to say I was sorry for laughing at you!" She snapped at him.

"You should be! But you're not forgiven and stop following me around and being so creepy!" He yelled back.

"Fine!" She screamed at him, "Maybe next time I won't apologize at all!" And she ran off back to the house.

He went to his garden but it seemed lonelier without her presence in it. Regret bloomed in his heart like the flowers bloomed in the garden.

**A/N this one was a little shorter but it ended where i wanted it to which is good. Review please and tell me everything you think! **


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N thanx for the reviews guys! I still don't own anything but my imagination. **

Lately, people from the Order had been coming more and more often. They would sit around the big wooden table in the dining room with plans and blueprints spread around them. They talked late into the night and sometimes; some of them would stay over. Draco never knew what they were talking about. He never went to any of the meetings even though the other kids did. Narcissa didn't go either. They never spoke about it, but Draco thought it was because of the mark on his arm. The black skull with the snake for a tongue scared and angered the others. And, he thought, the probably wouldn't want him there because of what he tried to do to Dumbledore. Even though he and his mother were technically on the Order's side of the war, he grew up believing a certain thing for so long and it was hard to switch to a different train of thought so suddenly. But lately he had been having doubts about The Dark Lord's ideas.

"Mother," He said as he wandered into her room, late one evening, "Do you still believe in what the Dark Lord's doing?" He asked her.

She was flipping through a cookbook but stopped when he asked his question, "I don't know." She said finally. "I used to, but now....."

He knew what she meant. It was hard to be around The Order of the Phoenix so much and not have some of their ideas rub off on him.

"I grew up believing things and acting a certain way but I just read in the paper that one of them killed a nine year old boy because his parents wouldn't join the Death Eaters. He was just a child! A baby, really and now he's dead." Narcissa said sadly.

"I'm scared, mother; I feel that what they're doing is wrong." Draco said honestly.

"I don't even know anymore, love. All I know is that there are two sides to every story." Narcissa said softly.

A knock on the door brought both of their attention away from their current topic. It was Mrs Weasley.

"Hello, would you both come downstairs for a minute, there's someone who would like to see you." She said.

Draco felt wary about this person. He really wasn't in the mood to meet new people. He stepped into the dining room to see a familiar woman.

"Cissy!" She cried and flung herself into his mother's arms.

"Andy! Oh, Andy!" Narcissa cried. Both women were clutching each other and sobbing. It had been years since he had last seen his aunt, but her dark hair and eyes were familiar to him from another woman.

Andromeda wiped her eyes and swept her nephew up into a hug. "You're so big, Draco."

He let go of her and shook hands with his cousin.

"Hello, Nymphadora." He said politely to his her.

She rolled her eyes, "Just call me Tonks, Draco." She turned to her aunt and said, "Me and Remus are married!"  
"Oh, congratulations!" Narcissa said politely, but Draco could see the frown in her eyes. She disapproved of her marriage to the werewolf. By the look in Aunt Andy's eyes, she agreed with her sister.

"Are you part of the Order, Andy?" Narcissa asked her sister.

"No, I just came to see you. I've missed you so much, Cissy." Andromeda said quietly.

Draco looked between the two women, sisters, but estranged from each other because of their marriages and sides on a pointless war.

"I should get back now. Ted is waiting for me. Good luck tonight!" She called to the room in general then walked out the front door so she could apparate outside the protective shields.

"What's happening tonight?" Draco asked.

"We're rescuing Potter." Moody said and the relaxed atmosphere of the room shifted back to being tense and focused.

"How?" Draco said.

"It was Mundungus's idea to use distractions, seven people with Polyjuice potion to look like Potter to distract the Death Eater's in case they figure out it's tonight." Moddy said gruffly.

Draco was a little surprised that they gave up that information so easily. They went back to their discussion and Draco didn't know to see down or leave again.

He turned to go, grabbing his mother's hand as he went.

"You can stay if you want." Mr Weasley said to the two Malfoys.

They looked at each other uncertainly then sat down by the door. About an hour later Moody said, "It's time."

They all got up and Moody grabbed a vat of Polyjuice potion and went outside. They got on thestrals, brooms and Draco even saw a motorbike then zoomed off into the darkness.

He stood there in the silence and emptiness. The fear in the air was almost visible, it was that strong. Mrs Weasley had tears in her eyes and Ginny was pale faced and wide eyed. Narcissa led Mrs Weasley back into the house and put a pot of tea on. Ginny was still standing outside.

"Come on." Draco said to her quietly. She shook her head, never moving her eyes away from the empty sky.

"They're going to be a while; you might as well come inside." He said to her softly.

"Leave me alone, Malfoy! You don't know what it's like to love someone so much you'd die for them! To love them enough to leave them for their own safety! To – to love them enough to stay up half the night because you're scared _sick _for their life! You love no one but yourself." She cried at him than ran back indoors with tears in her brown eyes.

He stayed outside for a few more minutes thinking about what she said. It was true, he didn't love anyone like she loved Potter. His love for his family was probably the strongest he knew. But he imagined if Granger was hurt, he might feel slightly sad.

He made his way back inside. Ginny was in her room sobbing, he could hear it from the kitchen. Mrs Weasley was sitting at the kitchen table holding a steaming mug of tea close to her while Narcissa was buzzing around the kitchen trying to lighten the mood and make small talk. She never could take sadness. She was scrubbing at the spotless countertop with a rag in hand and jabbering about the lilacs she had planted in the window boxes. His mother cleans when she is nervous.

Hours later, he heard a thump out on the lawn; they all raced out to see who was back first. It was Hagrid and Potter. Or at least someone disguised as him.

"Harry! Oh, Harry! You are the real Harry, right? Where are the others?" Mrs Weasley cried.

"Yeah, it's the real me. And what do you mean where are the others? Shouldn't they be back by now?" He asked.

Mrs Weasley was absolutely shaking with worry and nerves.

"Yah haven' go' any brandy, do yeh, Molly?" Hagrid asked.

Mrs Weasley nodded and hurried back into the house with Narcissa and Hagrid right behind her. The way that Ginny and Harry were looking at each other made Draco feel that he was intruding on something personal and intimate, even though Ginny and Harry didn't touch each other. The growing blue light shook them out of their daze.

It was Lupin, supporting George who was covered in something black and wet. Harry immediately went over and took George's legs and hurried him back into the house with Lupin.

They layed George out on the couch in the living room at the front of the house. He still wasn't moving. He was covered in blood flowing from the spot where his ear should be. Draco was shocked to see that it was missing.

"They found us somehow, the Death Eaters. It was Snape who did that to George." Lupin said angrily, "Sectumsempra was always a favourite of his."

Mrs Weasley was sobbing as he whispered spells to fix her son's ear, but nothing was working. Draco felt ill by the news that it was Snape.

People rushed in the back door, it was Hermione and Kingsley. Draco felt weak in the knees at the sight of her safe return. The only thing wrong with her was that her braid had come undone. Draco was indescribably relieved. Mr Weasley and Fred came next followed by Ron and Tonks and Bill and Fleur.

The first thing that Bill said was, "Mad-Eye's dead."

A stunned silence followed his blunt speech.

"He – he's what?" Potter said faintly.

"He died. Hit by a spell and fell off his broom. Mundungus ditched him. We tried to get the body, but the Death Eaters were closing in. We'll get it tomorrow." Bill said quietly.

Draco felt a spark of anger. How selfish was it of Mundungus to leave Moody to die. It was cruel and weak. He met Hermione's eyes and even though they didn't speak out loud, he knew she was having the same thought.

As mad as he was at Mundungus at leaving and how sorry he was for Mad-Eye's death, he was doubly relieved that Hermione was safe.

**A/N YES! TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY! YEAH! Lol sorry. **


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N thanks for all the reviews and for favouriting my stories and putting them on alert. I don't own anything but i wish i did. **

They wouldn't stop staring at him. It creeped him out the way they looked at him. Especially Potter. He and others would constantly look at him out of the corners of their eyes, like they expected him to just start randomly shooting Killing Curses at everyone and everything that crossed his path. One day at breakfast he couldn't take it anymore.

"What?" He snarled at Potter.

"Nothing!" Potter went back to pretending to eat his cereal.

"Then stop looking at me like you expect me to flash my dark mark at you and torture your girlfriend until she cries! Well, I hate to disappoint you Potter, but I'm not going to! Whether you like it or not, I'm on your side now!" After that startling speech, everyone at the table stared at him, completely stunned. He dropped back into his chair and shovelled Molly's scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"Does anyone want more tea?" Narcissa said weakly, holding up the sunshine yellow teapot.

"I think we should do something fun today!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly.

"Like what?" Ron said with his mouth full of bacon.

"We could go to the mall?" Ginny said, "There's one in the muggle town not far from here."

"Yeah, okay." Hermione agreed and Potter nodded and Ron shrugged.

"I don't think that's safe, I don't want you out alone right now." Mrs Weasley said nervously.

"I could go with them! I have been looking for some more rats for my computer!" Mr Weasley said eagerly.

"Do you mean a mouse, Mr Weasley?" Hermione said with a smile.

He nodded excitedly. His children exchanged dubious looks. It was obvious that they didn't want their father tagging along.

"We're fine on our own, dad." Ron said.

"I don't think so! There is a war going on in case you hadn't notice! There are dark wizards everywhere and you think that I can just let a bunch of teenagers out by themselves?!" Mrs Weasley's voice was getting louder with every word she spoke.

"We're all of age! Hermione's birthday was in September, Mine was in March and Malfoy's was in June! Except for Harry and Ginny, we're all seventeen!" Ron cried angrily to his mother.

Draco was surprised that they included him in their mall plans (whatever the bloody hell a 'mall' was) and even more surprised that they knew the month of his birth.

"Mrs Weasley, I don't think that there will be Death Eaters in a small muggle town miles from London and Diagon Alley." Hermione said logically.

"We could just let them out for the day, Molly. I trust them to be careful and not be foolish." Narcissa said soothingly.

"Fine! It's obvious that I'm outnumbered again! You can go to the mall but don't say I didn't warn you!" She grabbed the laundry basket she was folding clothes in and stomped up the servant's stairs to the laundry room.

Her children grinned and shrugged. Mr Weasley flooed to work after requesting that they buy him a packet of batteries and computer mouse. Narcissa suggested they apparate outside the mall and use side-along-apparation for Ginny and Harry.

The all stood outside the white house Mrs Weasley was wringing her hands with nervousness and Narcissa was watching them coolly. Harry held Hermione's arm and Draco could help the glare on his face as he watched Potter touching her. Somehow, he had got stuck with Ginny. She looked as about excited about it as he felt. But Ron didn't pass his exam the first time and Mrs Weasley didn't want her daughter getting splinched in a small muggle city. He did the spin and felt the tightness everywhere in his body and the next thing he saw was the loading door of the mall.

Harry and Hermione came next followed by Ron. Ginny led them through the front doors into the strangest thing Draco had ever seen in his life. It looked like Diagon Alley but inside a building. It was full of muggles walking around the hallways into small stores with big windows that had things Draco had never seen before in his life set up. He stared in awe at everything but the others had a more normal look on their faces.

"Alright, we need to pick up dad's batteries and mouse and I want to go to _Forever 21. _What about you guys?" Ginny asked.

"I want to go to the bookstore." Hermione said.

"I want to go to the food court!" Ron said smacking his lips, making Hermione roll her eyes at him.

Ginny led the way into the muggle clothing store and started flipping through the racks of clothes. Ron and Harry made their way to the men's section but didn't look all the interested. Draco walked through the entire store, touching everything, feeling every fabric staring at every type of fashion. Nothing was like it was in wizarding world. He saw a mannequin wearing a similar shirt as he was. Harry had dressed him to disguise him as a muggle. Draco was now wearing tan cargo shorts, a grey long sleeve t-shirt and surprisingly comfortable shoes called 'Converse'.

Ginny ended up with a couple of shirts and pair of shoes. She paid with strange money then carried her purchases out of the store in a plastic bag. No one else had gotten anything. Hermione asked to go to the book store next so the group made their way across the busy mall.

The bookstore was quiet and smelled like new books and coffee. Hermione made her way to the young adult section and Ginny went to the magazines and Harry and Ron went with her. Ginny was flipping through a magazine with a picture of a man on the cover. There was a big caption underneath, something about him cheating on his famous wife. But Draco was shocked to see that the pictures didn't move.

He slyly brought out his wand and waved it at a magazine but nothing happened. He frowned. How on earth did muggles manage without magic? He heard a laugh and turned to see Harry and Ron absorbed in a magazine with a pretty muggle woman on the cover, wearing nothing but covering up her secret spots with her hands. Draco was disgusted with them. This was a filthy _muggle _woman they were fawning over! A woman too stupid and dirty to be of any worth! He shook his head and went over to wear Hermione was.

She was reading the back cover a thick book. Draco looked around the section she was in; it was all muggle fiction novels, what could be more boring? Suddenly something caught his eye. It was a green hardcover book with two children on the front holding a key and standing in front of a vine covered wall. The children were, of course, not moving but it was really the title that made Draco excited. In swirling black writing were the words _The Secret Garden. _He wanted this for her, to apologize for yelling in the garden. She still wasn't speaking to him.

He took it off the shelf and said to Ginny, "Can I borrow some muggle money?"

She nodded, not taking her eyes of the trashy magazine she was focused on and handed him a handful of change bills that were unfamiliar to Draco. He went over to the counter and handed the book over to the cashier.

"Oh, I love _The Secret Garden!_ It's defiantly one of my favourites!" She said and put it into a bag. "That will be 12 pounds."

Draco looked at the different money in his hand and tried to figure out how to pay her. A line was growing behind him. He was just about to give up when he heard someone say, "Here, let me help you."

Hermione handed the cashier the right amount of money and handed Draco his bag. He looked at her gratefully.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"No problem, you should have seen how much trouble Ron had with muggle money when he first went to a muggle store." She said.

"Can we leave now?" Ron said to them as he, Harry and Ginny walked up to them.

"Yeah, okay." Hermione said and they headed for the food court.

Draco had never seen so many different types of food in one place before. You could get Chinese food, but right next to it was Greek food! Hermione ended up with spaghetti, Ron got a burger, Harry got pizza, Ginny got sushi and Draco couldn't decide, so he got a little of everything.

It was all delicious. Of course, he has had different kinds of food before, but not like this. It was all so easy, so accessible.

They went to an electronic store next. Ginny went to get the mouse for her father and Ron and Harry disappeared somewhere. Draco found himself in the DVD section. A movie was playing on a screen. Muggles were surprisingly intelligent. It looked as if there were smaller people inside a box, but it was just a moving picture. Even though they didn't have moving pictures on magazines or pictures, they did have it on the strange thing called a TV. Draco found that pretty cool.

His eyes were glued to the moving picture DVD movie thing. Two people were on the screen – a man and a woman. They were laying in a meadow gazing at each other and the man's skin was glittering like a thousand diamonds. On the next TV an Australian woman in a white nightgown was in a yard singing that she was hopelessly devoted to someone. The next TV showed a woman laying dripping wet on a piece of wood as a blonde man floated in the water beside her and made her promise to never let go. It was all so amazing – it wasn't what his father had told him muggles were like.

"We're leaving now." Potter came up to him and said.

"Wait just a second, I want to keep watching!" Draco said.

"It's just a TV! Come on!" Harry then had to drag Draco away from the store.

They walked around for a little bit longer. Draco would stop every thirty seconds to stare into a store window. He saw a machine to suck up dirt. There was a thing used to talk to people long distances away. He saw lights that all you had to do what flip a switch to turn on. He wanted to stay longer, but everybody was feeling a bit tired, so they apparated home.

Mrs Weasley and Narcissa were cooking dinner when they got home. Mr Weasley was due to arrive home any minute and the others went to put their purchases in their rooms then went to hang out in the sitting room. Draco stopped in his garden to pick something up then went to Hermione's empty room.

He layed the book he bought her and a single white rose from the garden on her bed along with a note that said, _The garden is lonely without you, I'm sorry. _

**A/N does anyone know the movies i mentioned? Super special dramione cookies to the people who get them right! Im a little nervous about this one, but my friends and i were discussing dracos reaction to a muggle mall so i just had to write a chapter on it! Review please!**


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N okay the first movie was Twilight then Grease and then Titanic. Thanx for all the reviews and you all get the dramione cookies! **

It was after breakfast when he saw her. He had just finished eating and was a little confused on why she wasn't in the kitchen like everyone else, so he decided to look for her. He found her in the study, on the window seat. She was reading the book he had given her; she was so absorbed in it she didn't even hear him come in. The white rose was sitting beside her in a vase full of water. The sun was peeking out of the clouds and hitting her right, highlighting her pretty face and clear skin. The sun made the natural blonde streaks in her hair shimmer gold. At this moment, he had no idea why people sometimes called her plain.

He decided to make himself known, "So, do you like it?" Draco asked quietly.

She looked up, startled but then smiled when she saw it was only him, "Oh, yes! I remember reading this with my mother when I was a kid! And thank you so much for the note and flower. I'm sorry I yelled at you the other day."

"It was really my fault." Draco said awkwardly. He wasn't used to apologizing to anyone.

The silence was a little awkward and Draco was just about to leave the room when Ron burst into it followed by Harry and Ginny.

"Hermione! We need you!" He cried dramatically.

She sat up straight and her eyes widened apprehensively, "What's wrong?"

"We're one short and we need you to be on Harry's team for Quidditch!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione snorted and said simply, "No."

"What? Please, 'Mione! The teams won't be equal without you!" Ron said loudly.

"Yes, please play with us, Hermione. It'll be fun." Ginny said.

"No, I'm reading a very good book and I don't like Quidditch." Hermione said stubbornly.

"But.... the teams will be unequal." Harry said a little confused. Draco smirked; he knew Potter was an idiot.

Hermione sighed, "Well, if you really need one more person, ask Draco."

"Wh-what?" He said startled. Four pairs of eyes flicked over to him.

"No." Ron said.

"Well, we do need one more player...." Ginny trailed off.

"It could work this time. Alright. You can play, Malfoy." Potter said thoughtfully.

It drove Draco crazy that they talked about him like he wasn't even there.

He smirked and said, "How you do you I even want to play?" He did, but he wasn't going to unless they begged for it.

"But you do want to play because you love Quidditch so stop being so stubbornly arrogant and get outside." Hermione said firmly.

He scowled at her. But he stomped upstairs to get his broom then met the others outside. His and Harry's broomsticks were by far the best, they both had _Firebolts _and Ginny and Ron only had _Nimbus Two Thousand and One. _The teams were him and Harry against Ron and Ginny. It was hard to play a real game, so they decided to have nothing but chasers.

When they couldn't find a ball to use, Draco suggested they use Crookshanks and Ron sniggered but shut up when Ginny shot him a look. Harry came back with a soccer ball he had found somewhere and that's what they used as the Quaffle. At first, Draco felt awkward playing with them. He was stiff on his broom and there was no real teamwork between him and Harry but as the game went on, he found it easier to play with his childhood enemy.

They were winning when Hermione came outside. Her white t-shirt was bright and caught his eye and then he found he couldn't look away from her as she sat underneath a tree with her book in hand to watch them play. The next thing he knew, he had crashed into a tree and was falling to the ground.

"Ow." He said as he landed on his arm funny.

"What are you, crazy? Why weren't you paying attention? You could've been killed!" Hermione rushed over to him and yelled. He couldn't tell her that he was distracted by _her. _She was too busy freaking out to notice, but Draco thought that Potter was looking at him like he knew exactly what caught Draco's eye.

She pulled his arm towards her and tried to roll up his sleeve but he resisted, "Ow! Watch it, Granger! My arm is fine! Let go!" He tried tugging his arm back but even though that hurt like hell, he kept trying because he didn't want her to see what was on his arm.

"No, it's not! It's broken and I know the spell to fix it!" She gave one last tug on his arm and yanked up the sleeve of his shirt. He flinched, thinking she would recoil and glare at him in disgust because of the ugly tattoo on his left arm but she didn't, she spared it barely a glance and then continued murmuring spells to heal his bones. He was amazed. He knew that she knew that he had the dark mark on his arm but he thought she would react to it somehow. He was impressed; most people were scared of his mark, but obviously not her. It was the reason he always wore long shirts.

"There." She said when she finished, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

He flexed his arms, "You fixed it."

"Of course she fixed it! Hermione's the smartest witch ever!" Harry said indignantly.

Hermione blushed, "I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, Harry."

He waved that off and held out his hand to help Draco up. Draco took it cautiously; he half expected Harry to then drop him. But he didn't and Draco was a little ashamed for thinking he would.

They went back into the kitchen. Narcissa was in there, singing at the top of her lungs and throwing who knows what into a steaming pot on the stove. Her honey blonde hair was tied up into a sloppy bun at the top of her head.

"Mom? What are you doing?" Draco asked carefully.

"I'm cooking!" She shouted over the radio and sizzle of food. Draco had never seen his mother cook anything in her entire life. Their house-elves had always done it.

"Yeah, I can see that. But, um, why?" He said.

"Well, I realized that I have never cooked and clean before in my life so I decided that since this house doesn't have any house elves, I should probably do something to keep it going!" She peered at the cook book thoughtfully then dumped about a cup of salt into the pot.

"Are you sure that's the way the recipe goes, Mrs Malfoy?" Hermione said uneasily.

"Pretty sure!" Narcissa said cheerfully.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other nervously. Ginny, Ron and Harry just backed out of the kitchen silently. Hermione sighed and went over to help Narcissa.

"You see here, Mrs Malfoy, that it says a _pinch _of salt. You've used too much." Hermione said slowly.

Narcissa peered into the pot, "Do you think we could get it out again?"

Hermione grinned, "No, I don't think so. But I'll help you start over."

And so out went the old stew and Hermione magically cleaned the pot and sent Narcissa on the hunt for the proper ingredients and she made Draco peel the potatoes and cut the carrots. Honestly though, he was as about as useless in the kitchen as his mother was. Hermione had to keep stopping him and saying, "Draco, you are not a mass-murderer cutting up your victims, you are a chef dicing your food."

Narcissa was singing (screeching) along to Celestina Warbeck's latest single _You Caught My Heart Like a Snitch. _

_And you caught my heart, _

_But don't send me back to the start._

_This isn't Quidditch, _

_I'm just a simple witch. _

_So now you've won the game,_

_I am yours to tame._

Draco rolled his eyes at his mother. Finally the stew was in a presentable shape so he went to call everyone down to the table.

"It was so kind of you to offer to cook tonight, Narcissa." Mrs Weasley said warily. Obviously she had about as much confidence in his mother's cooking as Draco did.

"Mmm! What smells so good?" Mr Weasley said as he walked in from work.

"My stew!" Narcissa said happily.

Everyone sat down and carefully brought a spoon full of stew into their mouths.

"Oh! This is good!" Mrs Weasley said, surprised.

Narcissa beamed. "Thanks! But I can't take all the credit! Draco and Hermione did most of it!" 

"Really, ferret? You cooked this without the help of a house elf?" Ron said snarkily but Draco could see that he was impressed.

The dinner table chatter turned towards Harry's birthday the next day.

"I've decided I can make your cake if you want, Harry!" Narcissa exclaimed.

"Oh, um, that's okay! I don't want to trouble you!" Harry said quickly. He smelled the original stew when he first walked in. He had a right to be scared.

"Why don't we both make it?" Mrs Weasley offered to Narcissa.

After the dinner dishes had been done, everyone went their separate way to spend the evening as they wished but Draco said to Hermione, "Do you want to come with me to the garden?"

**A/N i can totally see narcissa being a hopeless cook and cleaner. I hope she wasn't too out of character but ive always thought of her as more bubbly out of the three sisters and being away from the manor and her husband and the death eaters and living in a more kind society, i just thought she would act that way. And pure bloods have been inbred so many times, shes allowed to be a bit mad i think. Anyways, review please! **


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N yeah i really have no idea on what to say. I don't own anything. And sorry i write the worst AN ever. Okay, on with the story!**

"How the hell did you get icing on your forehead?" Draco asked his mother in disbelief.

"Oh, I guess I must have rubbed my face while I had icing in my hands. Is it gone?" She said rubbing her forehead but only managed to spread the yellow icing around more.

"No Narcissa dear. Here's the cloth." Mrs Weasley kindly said to her and passed her the dish cloth.

Narcissa smiled and cleaned herself up. The two women had just finished making Harry's birthday cake in the shape of a Golden Snitch.

"Oh, Draco while you're in here, can you grab some cutlery to set the table with?" Mrs Weasley asked distractedly as she tried to clean up, stop Narcisssa from licking the spoon and levitate the cake to the table.

"Sure." He said and grabbed enough forks and knives for everyone. He walked outside and set up the places. The amount of people was so large; they couldn't even fit in the dining room. Fred and George would be coming, Tonks and Lupin, Bill and Fleur, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Charlie and Hagrid. Draco set up the table and went back inside.

Hermione was in the kitchen, carrying out a plate of roast beef. Ginny, Ron and Harry all followed with a dish of their own. Soon, everyone was sitting around the big table in the evening sunset, enjoying the good food and happy company.

The sunset that night reminded Draco of the sunset from the night before. Draco and Hermione were both in the garden. She was sitting on the edge of the fountain with her nose buried in a book, trying to figure out how to keep it going. Draco was puttering around the roses, and lighting the candles. The warm light the candles produced from the jam jars made Hermione glow like an angel. She called him over to look at a certain spell, but he could focus on nothing but her pretty face. He was about an inch away from kissing her, when he remembered who she was. She was just Granger. It was alright to be kind to her and spend time with her, but Draco Malfoy would _never _kiss a muggleborn. It might be haughty and arrogant to think that, be Draco was raised a certain way. He had no idea on how she felt about him.

Suddenly, he was jolted back to the present with Tonks's sudden announcement, "I'm pregnant!"

"You're what?!"

"Oh my God!"

"A baby!"

"This is so cool!"

People shouted from all around the table. But while people shouted congratulations at the couple, Draco couldn't help but think that Lupin looked less than thrilled with the whole thing.

Then people were eating cake and handing Harry their presents. He got a book called _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, _a watch handed down from the Weasley family, a Sneakoscope, an enchanted razor, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes gift basket and a Mokeskin pouch. Draco really had no idea what to get him, so Harry got a Honeydukes gift card from Draco.

The cake was just getting cleared up when an owl dropped an envelope onto Harry's lap. He read it then looked up and said, "It says we're needed at the ministry. Ron, Hermione and I."

The guests looked at each other in confusion and the trio disapparated outside the boundaries. Draco was a little wary; he never really trusted the ministry. Not since his father was arrested. After they had gone, the party atmosphere died quickly. The guest left and the night was black by the time the three teens returned.

Mrs and Mr Weasley, Ginny, Draco and Narcissa were sitting in the living room, looking out the front window and waiting for Ron, Harry and Hermione to come home.

"What's wrong? What did the minister want? Why were you gone so long?" Mrs Weasley asked frantically.

"They were just going over Dumbledore's will." Harry said softly.

"Well, what did you get?" Ginny asked loudly.

"Ron got his Deluminator, Hermione got a copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard _and I got a.... a snitch." Harry said, confused.

"But why would Dumbledore leave you an old snitch?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Who knows? Dumbledore's always been a bit mad. Is there any cake left?" Ron asked.

"I am amazed by your capacity to bounce back after such a sad event, Ronald!" Hermione snapped at him than ran from the room.

Draco followed her and found her in her room, crying into a pillow.

"Are you okay?" He asked her then mentally hit himself. Obviously she's not okay because if she was, she wouldn't be crying!

"I-I-I'm fine!" She sobbed.

"Sure you are."

"It-it's just that Dumbledore expected us to help Harry and I don't understand what we're doing! Everything is too hard and confusing! I wish he was here now to help us defeat Voldemort, but all he left me was a stupid book!" She cried.

"Did you say you're trying to defeat Voldemort? That's not possible, it's too dangerous! And did you say 'stupid book'? I thought books weren't stupid?" Draco asked stunned.

Hermione glanced up at him from underneath her eyelashes and he felt his heart stop. But at least she wasn't crying anymore.

"Um, yeah. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. But we have a plan." She said softly.

"You're being ridiculous. Voldemort can't be defeated that easily." He said scathingly.

"But Harry knows how to! And I don't have to explain myself to you!" She stuck her nose into the air and glared at him.

"Fine! Get yourself killed! See if I care!" He said, storming from her room.

But the truth was, he probably would care if she got herself killed. But just a little.

Things were a little awkward between them for a little while. He thought she was a little offended that he had dissed her magical ability and he was still furious that she was purposely throwing herself into a dangerous situation. But whenever he thought about Hermione standing before Voldemort, his heart stopped for a second and he was overcome with the immense feeling of panic. Is it okay for him to be unable to breathe when he thought about her in pain? Was it normal for him to wish to keep her wrapped safely in bubble wrap or something forever?

He was sitting alone in the garden when he heard tiny footsteps coming through the forest. He raised his wand sharply and tensed his shoulder, ready for anything.

"Hello." Hermione said softly, coming into view.

He didn't say anything, just nodded in her direction.

"The flowers look nice." She said, gesturing in the direction of the nearest rose bush.

He stayed silent. He hated this awkwardness. They had never been awkward with each other; right now he might even have preferred their fighting. Anything but silence.

"You could at least answer me after what you said to me!" She said irritably.

"What I said to you?!" He shouted, "You're the one who's going on a suicide mission!"

He was about to say more, but he caught the smirk on her face.

"What?" He growled.

"I'm just trying to get you talking again." She said, smirking.

He stared at her in shock for a second than threw the spell book at her, "Don't just stand there smirking at me! You could at least figure out how to keep the worms from eating our flowers!"

"Our flowers?" She questioned, smiling.

"Just do it Granger!" He shouted. He was never really good at the whole touchy-feely apology stuff.

She smiled at him like she knew exactly what he meant than continued to thumb through the thick book.

**A/N yeah sorry its been forever but my computer died than i had serious writers block. Ill try and update faster. **


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N okay i am so so so so SO sorry for the long delay but it seems that i repel technology and my computer hates me and keeps breaking. I have to keep calling in my dad to fix it! Anyways, getting off topic. I don't own anything, im making no money off of this, i am not JKR, and these are not my characters. And on with the story!  
**

"Tell me a secret." She said one morning as they were sitting side by side on the ground whispering spells to whiten the petals of the roses.

"What?" He asked, shocked.

"Tell me a secret no one else knows about you!" Hermione said.

"No! Why should I?" He had no good secrets.

"Because I only know you as the son of the Death Eater and the man who almost killed Dumbledore! I want to know other things!" She exclaimed.

"Well..." Draco said slowly, "When I was younger.... I used to have a lisp." He blushed.

"What? No way!" She grinned.

"It's true. My father gave me this potion to fix it about ten years ago." Draco was still blushing, "Now tell me something about you."

"Um, I'm afraid of fire." She said quietly.

"You are?" He asked.

"Yes. There was a fire in my house when I was about nine; a candle overturned and destroyed our living room. No one was hurt and the firemen came quickly but ever since then I've hated fire." She whispered.

"Well, my favourite flavour of ice cream is strawberry." He said cheerfully. She laughed and told him that her favourite flavour was vanilla.

It was the little game they played. They would hang out in the cool garden, slurping down ice cream and hearing the distant shouts from the other teens. He told her that when he was younger he had wanted to be a professional Quidditch player and she said that she has always wanted a little brother.

"Favourite childhood memory – go!" He said.

"That would have to be..... when my mom let me help her make chocolate chip cookies when I was six. We ate almost all the dough and when my dad came home, he joined us. We ended up not having enough dough left to bake and we all had an awful stomach ache, but it was hilariously fun." She said wistfully.

"When I turned eight, my parents took me to the beach. It was so much fun; my mom just found out she was pregnant and my dad played with me in the water. We ate strawberry ice creams and chased the sea gulls. Then my mother had a miscarriage and everything went bad." He blinked back hot tears from ancient grief and she reached for his hand.

"I'm sorry." She said honestly and softly.

He squeezed her hand tighter. It was silent for a few minutes until she burst out, "My favourite colour is blue!"

"Well, mine is green, black and silver."

"Obviously." She smirked.

"Oh, really? I'm that obvious am I? Well then here's something that _isn't _so obvious: I think you look really pretty today!" He smirked back but faltered when he saw the shocked look on her face.

He tried to pull his hand away from hers and stuttered awkwardly, "I-I mean....

She smiled and didn't let his hand go, "And I think you're really handsome."

She leaned upwards and her eyelids fluttered, he was about a hair's width away from her lips when he felt a jolt of fear shoot through his veins.

" We-we should get back now, it's almost dinner." He said and quickly got up.

She sighed (with disappointment?) and walked with him back to the house. Ron and Harry were playing Exploding Snap and Narcissa and Mrs Weasley were chatting on the couch while Ginny read a book on the over-stuffed armchair beside them. Hermione joined the boys on the carpet. Then dinner commenced as usual, with loud laughter, much shouting and rich food. Mr Weasley came home and was engulfed in his wife's kisses and hugs. Draco saw his mother's eyes sadden and he watched as she excused herself from the table. He found her crying softly in her room.

"What's wrong, mother?" He whispered.

She whimpered and rubbed her eyes, "I miss him." She said simply. Draco didn't have to ask who 'he' was, it was his father. Lucius was still in Azkaban, and he realized it must be hard for his mother to watch Mr and Mrs Weasley all day and not have her own husband with her.

"I know. I'm sorry." Draco sat next his broken mother as she cried for her broken heart.

"At one point I thought I wanted to be like Bellatrix. I wanted your father to be the top Death Eater, I wanted to have Voldemort's ear, I wanted to be powerful. But now that I can see from the outside, I realize what a dangerous game we were playing. The Dark Lord's moods can change so easily; it's a wonder why we haven't been killed already. I'm so scared, Draco. I know I have to be strong for you; but sometimes I think it would just be easier to give up." Narcissa said faintly.

"No, mother! We can't do that, it's too dangerous! So many people have endangered their lives for us; it would be unfair to give up now!" Draco said fiercely.

She smiled softly at him, "Look at my son; he's so brave. I wonder what your sister would've been like if she had been born?"

Draco felt a lump rise in his throat, "Don't do this, mother."

He knew his mother only brought up Gemini (his unborn sister) when she was feeling really terrible, but it still hurt him as much as her.

"I love her so much and I miss her. I wish she was here, I wish your father was here too and I wish we were normal." Narcissa shut her eyes in pain and pressed her lips firmly together.

"We are normal." Draco said in confusion. His whole life he was taught that their family's way of life was the right and only way.

"We're not normal, Draco. Normal people don't fear for their lives. Normal people don't hide away in a strange house with strangers because people are trying to kill them. Normal people don't shun people of a lower birth than them. Normal people don't feel alone and scared _all the time. _We can never be normal." Narcissa choked up a bit and bit back the sob rising in her throat.

"I don't understand."

"After .......... what happened when you were eight........ I realized that all I had ever wanted was to live in a comfortable home with a loving husband and doting children. I was tired of running and hiding and hurting and killing and I was tired of Voldemort. I didn't necessarily disagree with what he was doing; I just didn't want to be a part of it. But now I think that they may be a bit harsh in their actions." Narcissa said tiredly.

"I think I know what you mean. I'm glad I didn't kill Dumbledore." At the mention of his name, Draco felt his eyes burn. Stop it! He told himself firmly. Crying is for the weak!

"I'm glad too. Draco, all I want for you is to be happy. I want you to live your life as you want to and love who your heart tells you to. I don't want you to be like me. I'm not strong, but you are. I wouldn't even mind if you married a muggle-born. Just please don't marry a muggle. Or heaven forbid a _werewolf!" _She shuddered delicately at the thought and smiled at her only child.

She hugged him tight and let him go. He wandered out of her room and down the stairs. He passed Ron arguing with his parents about who-cares-what and Ginny and Harry making eyes at each other over piles of chocolate frog cards. Hermione was the one who caught his eyes though. She was reading The_ Secret Garden _in the chair by the fire and smiling softly to herself. A thought suddenly danced through his mind, _I wouldn't even mind if you married a muggle-born, _his mother had said. He scowled, wondering where the hell that thought had come from.

The next day was spent much like any other. They had breakfast together, Mr Weasley flooed to work, Potter and his gang of merry followers started up an uneven game of Quidditch, Mrs Weasley and Narcissa listened to Celestina Warbeck and read old cookbooks and Draco and Hermione hung out in their garden.

"What's your favourite vegetable?" Draco asked.

"My favourite vegetable?" Hermione smiled, "Let see... broccoli."

"Eww! You like broccoli?" Draco said, disgusted.

"It's a very misunderstood vegetable! What shape does your patronus take? Mine's an otter." Hermione said.

"Mine's a dragon." Draco said quietly.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised with your name. But where did you learn? Did... he.... teach you?" Hermione said awkwardly.

Draco scowled, "No. I taught myself. In our fifth year."

"Oh, that was the year of the DA! You should have come out and learned with us!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have been welcome there."

"Yes, you would have!"

"No, Hermione. I wouldn't."

She didn't argue further. Maybe because she knew it was true. Or maybe because he was so damn stubborn there was no point arguing with him. But what she didn't know was that he taught himself because of the DA. He so badly wanted to be a part of that, but he knew he could never be accepted there. So he taught himself. He thought it would be useful to know how to defend himself and Umbridge was such a cow, she could never teach him. His whole life he had wanted to be like Harry. So popular and friendly and good at Quidditch. He wanted to be loved and feel special. He wanted to be chosen. It was one of the reasons he joined up with the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. And now for the first time in his life, when he smiled, it was real.

"What do you want to do most right now?" Hermione asked him thoughtfully.

He blurted out the first thing that popped into his head and said truthfully, "Kiss you."

**A/N okay this one was a little bit sad but im in a mood so whatever. I hope you like the cliffhanger and please please please review! Im having a bad day and that would make it all better! **


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N i know i don't thank each and every one of you personally, but i just want to take this time to give out a general THANK YOU! to readers in general. Every review means so much to me, good or bad. And for the people who don't review but favourite or put my story on alert, you are amazing! Im so happy that people like my story and im going to keep trying to do my best! Thank you so so much! **

The expression in her eyes was almost humorous. Her pink mouth had dropped open and her eyes were huge with surprise and suspicion. He was pretty sure that she thought that he was being sarcastic or joking. But he really wasn't. He had never been more serious in his life. He felt so warm whenever he was near her, so light and happy. His whole life and been spent in the darkness, kissing her would be like kissing the sun. He wanted her pink lips to touch his own, he wanted to hold her tight and protect her from the world, he wanted sit close to her and drink in her warmth.

"Draco, be serious." She whispered.

"I am." He murmured, slightly stung that she thought this was a laughing matter. But still, she had known him for six years; she knew what he was like.

"I know you, Draco. Please don't joke about _this." _Hermione rubbed her chocolate eyes and went to stand up. Draco grabbed her wrist and turned her around to face him. He stood and smashed his lips to her own. He felt her gasp tremble through her body, but she didn't pull away. After a few seconds, he felt her arms wrap around his neck. The kiss grew deeper, more passionate. The strength of it rocked the garden and sent the flowers into a frenzy. He moaned as she licked his lips.

They pulled away from each other to see the other one with new eyes. For a second, he was so afraid she would leave, he really shouldn't have been so forward with her, but she grinned mischievously at him and connected their bodies again.

They came back to the house hours later, after the sun had fallen and the crickets started to sing.

"Where have you two been? You almost missed supper!" Mrs Weasley said crossly.

"Um, just outside." Hermione said nonchalantly and took her place beside Ginny. Draco sat across from her and winked then smirked at her blush.

Mrs Weasley gave them a rather sceptical look but just served them their food quietly. Draco could hardly bare to sit through this dinner and pretend that nothing had been changed. Instead of humorous, he found the evening chatter to be infuriating and it took an annoyingly long time for everyone to finish eating. As soon as the plates had been cleared, he was up in Hermione's room kissing her sweetly.

"What are we, Draco?" She asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"I mean, is this just casual, or are we..... together?" She looked so ashamed to say that, but Draco was horrified that she would even think that this meant nothing to him.

"Hermione." He said softly, "I have no idea what's going to happen next, but I definitely don't want this to be some ridiculous fling."

He kissed her gently and felt her long lashes flutter against his skin. He went to his own room and couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He passed a mirror and was shocked to see how different his face looked when it didn't have a scowl or a sneer on it. His mother stepped out of her room in front of him.

"Oh, mother! Hello, are you going to bed now?" He said.

"I wanted to talk to you, Draco. About today." He winced at the iciness in her voice and followed her into his room.

"I know about you and the Granger girl." Narcissa said coldly.

"How do you know about that?" Draco asked, his blood running cold.

"You two are so obvious, even a house-elf could figure it out."

"But I thought you said it would be okay for me and a muggle-born to.... you know." Draco said, confused.

She seemed to crumple under his gaze. She sniffled and said, "I know, I'm sorry. I just.... I don't know. I'm sorry. I want you to be happy, Draco. And if she makes you happy, well, who am I to stop my son's happiness?"

He kissed her pale cheeks, "Thank you, mother."

"Take care of her. She's in as much as danger as you are." Narcissa cautioned.

He nodded fiercely, "I know. She's safe with me."

Draco and Hermione had decided to tell everyone about their relationship when the time was right. They were a little nervous about what Harry and Ron would think. Narcissa already knew and she seemed fine with it, but Ron was so temperamental. One day at dinner, they decided to just blurt it out.

"Draco and I are dating!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly then cringed at the shocked silence that greeted her words.

"YOU'RE _WHAT?" _Ron screamed.

"Please don't shout, Ronald!" Hermione cried.

"Calm down, Ron!" Mr Weasley reprimanded.

"HOW CAN I BE CALM WHEN HERMIONE'S DATING THAT..... THAT _THING?" _Ron screeched.

"I'll ask you kindly to please not call my son a 'thing'." Narcissa said coldly.

"Hermione, why?" Harry asked.

"I-I love him, Harry." Hermione said softly.

Draco started in surprise. He didn't know that she felt that strongly for him. He smiled and she smiled back shyly. He reached for her hand and Ron exploded.

"YOU LOVE HIM? WHY THE HELL DO YOU LOVE THAT GREASY FERRET?" Ron was now turning a vague purple colour with rage.

"Don't shout at her!" Draco demanded.

"DON'T TELL WHAT TO DO, DEATH EATER!" Wow. Silence. That was kind of harsh.

Draco sent him a lovely little jinx that makes his pants shrink until Ron won't be able to feel his lower half. It was one of the many things Amycus Carrow had taught him.

He stormed from the house, Ron's angry screams chasing him out. So did Hermione.

"Draco, Draco! Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine. How are you?" He asked her kindly.

"Good." She was blushing. She was obviously thinking about her confession.

"Do you really love me?" He asked. The colour in her cheeks bloomed pink.

"Yes." She whispered in such a small voice that Draco had to lean in close to hear it.

"Good. I'm glad my feelings are returned." She glanced up quickly and he smiled at her hopefulness, "I love you, Hermione."

She gasped with delight and through herself into his arms. He held her tight and kissed her head.

"Ignore them, 'Mione. They're morons." Draco said comfortingly.

"Who?" She asked.

"Weasley and Potter. Especially Weasley." He said viciously.

"They're my friends, Draco! And even though they're a bit protective, I still love them!" She cried.

"I thought you loved _me." _He said sourly.

"It's different! Stop being so difficult! It was a very big thing to just spring on them like that! They had a right to be a bit shocked!" She defended.

"They had no right to call me a Death Eater!"

"That may be true, but you can't keep talking about my friends that way! I love you Draco and I want this relationship to work but I'm not going to give up my friends for you!"

"You won't have to. We're over." He said coldly and stalked off towards the house. He didn't hear her follow him.

He went around through the front door because he really, _really _didn't want to talk to anyone at that moment. He couldn't believe that he broke up with her. He loved her so much but she could be so damn stubborn sometimes! He wished he hadn't done it, but he wouldn't be spoken to that way. He didn't see her come inside until it was after midnight and everyone had gone to bed. He didn't sleep that night.

The next morning, he ate breakfast earlier than anyone and dressed then went to the study. A little while later in the afternoon, he passed by Hermione in the hall by accident. Her eyes were puffy and red rimmed from crying and her hair was even more of a disaster than it usually was. Draco didn't let himself cry, not even for her. She avoided his eyes and Draco thought he could hear a little whimper as he passed her.

Narcissa, Mrs Weasley and even Ginny had tried talking to him many times about Hermione but he refused. This was too personal. A week went by and he was in agony. He so badly wanted to talk to her - screw his pride - but she was going out of her way to avoid him. He missed her terrible and couldn't think what to do to get her back. And then it hit him.

A plucked a single white rose from one of the bushes and laid it on Hermione's pale blue quilt. It was an apology and he knew that she would know it. He then went to the garden.

He could hear her before he saw her. She was running towards him than threw herself into his arms. She sobbed onto his t-shirt and clutched the rose.

"I'm so, so sorry!" She cried.

"It's alright, I'm sorry too." He said soothingly and stroked her hair. He kept murmuring to her softly until he heard the first giggle. He whirled around quickly, moving Hermione so that his body blocked hers.

"What the hell is this place?" Weasley snorted as he shoved through the delicate bushes, Potter and Ginny trailing after him.

"What are you doing here?" Draco growled angrily. This place was his and Hermione's and _no one _else was allowed in.

"We saw Hermione running this way, and we just wanted to see if she was alright." Ginny said mildly, stroking a rose petal.

"It's very nice." Potter said politely.

"No it's not! It's bloody gay!"Weasley was absolutely roaring with laughter.

"How'd that pants-shrinking-hex feel, Weasley? Want it again?" Draco mocked and Weasley's eyes narrowed.

"You bloody pervert! Why are you interested in him, Hermione? Or is this something different? Is he forcing you into something?" He said to her.

"No!" She cried, shocked.

Draco was seething with anger. To imply that Draco was abusing Hermione was severely punishable. Draco would never do that, even if they weren't together. He had always been very protective of women. The Dark Lord had always liked to..... have his way with women, and Draco would listen to their screams of horror as they were taken by the snake-like man and wish that he could do something.

"Get. Out." He spat out.

"Make me, Malfoy!"

Fine. Draco knew this would hurt Hermione's feelings but right now he really didn't give a shit.

"INCENDIO!" A burst of flame shot from Draco's wand and lit Ron's t-shirt on fire.

"Aguamenti!" Ron said and the fire was put out.

Ginny, Harry and Ron were all staring at him in disgust, shock and..... fear. The fire spell was not meant to be used on another person.

Draco heard a whimper behind him and turned to see Hermione with tears in her eyes and positively shaking with fear. He realized too late that she was afraid of fire.

"Hermione..." He said softly and reached out towards her. She slapped his hand away and jumped back a few feet. He wanted to throw up. She was so afraid of him right now. He took a look at the garden, now singed with smoke and ash from the fire he had created and the four people who were disgusted and scared of him. He didn't know what else to do. He bolted.

He sprinted for the front gate to be able to disapparate from Blossom Manor and the people in it. He thought he heard someone calling his name, but he focused only on his feet pounding against the ground. He shoved open the gate and apparated to the first place he thought of. Malfoy Manor.

**A/N so what do you all think of this one? Dracos been quite bad, hasn't he? Please review and tell me what you think! xoxo, wish. **


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! I have over 40! For me, thats amazing! Thank you, i don't own ANYTHING but i love the characters, JKR is the best and cant be copied... um, what else? I make no money off of this? Ah well, anyways! **

Draco walked the empty halls of Malfoy Manor as the ghosts of his childhood floated past him. Right there in the living room was where he met Voldemort for the first time. And over there by the piano was where he spilt chocolate on his mother's new carpet and was beaten by his father. He walked through the kitchen and was delighted by how nice it was. The number of times he had been in this kitchen he could count on one hand. But at Blossom Manor, that seems to be the main hang out spot. He walked into his room and was overwhelmed by green and black. Everywhere was Slytherin colours. He had news papers pinned up about the Dark Lord and no pictures of his family. The big bed was neat and orderly but the whole room seemed dark and lonely. The room didn't feel like him anymore. The off-white room with wood floors and a home-made quilt on the bed felt more comfortable.

He heard a crash downstairs and felt the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He slowly crept down the hall and peered over the railing. It was too dark to see anything. He held his wand in front of him and cautiously went down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he turned to go into the library and saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. He instinctively jumped behind a suit of armour and tightened his grip on his wand.

"Draco? Um, is that you?" The voice called out. Draco realized it was only Potter.

"What are you doing here?" Draco snapped as he stood in front of Harry.

"I came to bring you back home. They have all the Aurors out looking for you and your mother and Hermione are freaking out. I had to sneak out to come and find you. I wanted to talk to you about Hermione." Harry said quietly.

"What about Hermione? That she hates me and never wants to see me again?" His voice was cold but his heart was breaking.

"No. You scared her but now she's more scared of the fact that you ran away. Come home, she's really upset."

"_That's _not my home! _This _is!" Draco cried gesturing to the dark library they were in.

Harry looked at him and said, "A building doesn't make a home, the people in it do."

Draco's bravado seemed to deflate a little bit.

"Hermione is crying her eyes out and she locked herself in her room and refuses to let anyone in." Harry said to Draco.

"I.... can't be with her." Draco muttered through almost closed lips.

"Why not?" Harry said outraged, "Hermione is my best friend and I love her like she's my sister so I want her to be happy and how am I supposed to feel now the guys that she's in love with doesn't want to be with her anymore? Explain yourself Malfoy!"

"I didn't say that I didn't _want _to be with her, I said I _can't _be with her." Draco said staring at the carpet.

"What... what do you mean?" Harry said confused, "Why can't you be with her anymore?"

"Because of this!" Draco cried, yanking up the left sleeve of his shirt revealing the ugly Dark Mark tattoo, "Because I'm a Death Eater and a Slytherin and bad and evil and dark and mean and she deserves better! She deserves someone who can keep her safe and hold hands with her in public. She deserves someone who can wear short sleeves and not have to worry about being arrested! She deserves someone who knows how to smile like he means it and someone who can cook and use muggle money and can meet her parents without them worrying they will see her dead in the paper! I can't be with her because I'm not good enough for her!"

Harry was silent for a long time and Draco wondered if he should just leave when Harry said, "Hermione is a smart girl and she can take care of herself. She would never be with someone who she felt wasn't a good person. She believes in you and loves you and she knows about your past and Death Eaters and she _still _loves you. She knows who you are and who you used to be. So why are you still here, not trusting her instead of stopping her tears?"

And then Harry disapparated. Draco was left to ponder everything he said alone. He was scared, so scared, of going back then and being ordered to leave but he tried to trust Hermione and Harry and himself apparated just outside Blossom Manor.

The sun had just set and all the lights were on inside. He pushed open the gate and walked up to the front door. He hesitated before he went in and was welcomed by a crowd of people and a symphony of voices shouting at him. The Aurors that were part of the Order came up to him and Mrs Weasley and Narcissa hugged him tight, crying threats at him. Ginny and Ron were sitting pale faced by the fire and Harry was looking pretty smug on Draco coming back.

"I need to see Hermione!" He shouted over the excited babble. He pushed through everyone and ran up two flights of stairs to Hermione's room.

He stood outside her door, hearing her sobs and wails. He knocked on the door and she screamed, "GO AWAY!"

"Hermione, it's me. Draco. I want to talk to you." He called to her.

Immediately she pulled open the door and jumped into his arms.

"Oh my God, how could you have been so stupid? Don't you ever run away again!" She cried loudly.

"Hermione, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. But I think you could do better than me. I'm broken, Hermione. I'm no good, damaged beyond repair. You need someone whole and good." He said, ashamed.

"You're such an idiot." She said affectionately. "I love _you."_

And then she kissed him.

**A/N sorry its been forever but my inspiration ran away and i had a serious case of writers block. But please accept my apology and review review review! **


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N I"M SO SORRY! I know its been forever and i really have no excuse and i just want to let you know that there will be two more chapters after this and an epilogue. Just so you know. Oh and i do NOT own anything!**

"I do."

"You may now kiss the bride."

Bill Weasley kissed his new bride, Fleur at the head of the aisle and she tilted her head up towards him. Draco applauded along with everyone else.

"Hey, you crying?" He teased his girlfriend softly.

"No!" She snapped. He laughed gently and she scowled.

The chairs were cleared up and replaced with a dance floor. Hermione grabbed his hand and dragged him to the middle of the floor. He twirled her around the room and she laughed gleefully. Bill and Fleur passed them whispering to each other and calling each other Mr and Mrs Weasley. Hermione pretended to gag.

The song ended and everyone applauded. Luna came up to them and said, "Hello Hermione, hello Draco!"

"Luna! How did you know who I am?" Draco asked, panicked. He had taken polyjuice potion to disguise himself. No one knew it was really him except for the Weaslys and Hermione and Harry.

"Just the expression on your face, I guess." She said nonchalantly. Another song came on and Draco said to the blonde, "Do you want to dance?"

They danced around the room as friends. He didn't think of Luna that way, but she was surprisingly always kind to him. Whenever she saw him in the hallways she would say hello to him. He usually mocked her, but it was a nice gesture.

"You love Hermione." Luna said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes." Draco said surprised, he had never told Luna that he and Hermione were going out. "But how did you know?"

"Just the way you look at her. My mom used to look at my dad that way." Her usual airy smile slipped and her eyes filled with pain.

"I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

She shrugged and her cheerfulness was back, "I think you should marry her."

"Wh-what?" Draco cried.

"Well, there is a war coming and you love her, right? Marry her. You don't know what could happen in the war." Draco knew that Luna was implying that Hermione might die in the war and he scowled.

"Don't say things like that!" He said icily.

The song ended and he pushed away from the starry eyed girl. He dropped himself into a chair and scowled at the table until he heard a familiar voice say, "What happened?"

"Nothing." He said shortly to Hermione.

"Uh-huh. You suck at lying."

"Don't leave!" He suddenly burst out.

"What do you mean?" She said, confused.

"I mean, I know you're planning on going away with Potter and Weasley and I don't want you to! Stay here with me! I can't go back to Hogwarts and the house will be so empty! You'll be safer if you stay!" He said desperately. He _never _was so open about his true feelings but he felt so strongly about Hermione leaving, that it all just came out.

She looked away from him, "Draco, you know I have to go. Voldemort has to be stopped. I'm so sorry."

"Fine." He glared at her and stomped off.

His mother was swaying by herself in the corner wearing a pretty silver dress with her blonde hair twisted into a knot at the back of her head.

"Hello Draco." She said kindly.

He just nodded at her.

"What's wrong?" She frowned.

"Hermione's leaving to fight Voldemort." He said bitterly.

"Oh, dear." Narcissa's face visibly paled.

"It's too dangerous! She'll get killed!"

"Draco I know you're very scared but she has to do this! This war must end! Be supportive and just treasure the time you have left with her." Narcissa said wisely.

Draco didn't _want _to treasure the time left with her because he didn't want her to go! But instead of throwing a hissy-fit, he trudged back to her and tried to smile.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He said stiffly.

"It's fine." She said softly.

"No it's not. Hermione, I really love you and I'm so scared for you. If I could I would tie you up and lock you in the house until this war is over. But I know it'll never be over until someone does something about it. And even know it kills me to say this – I know you can do this and I know you're going to come back to me safe and sound." He said seriously to her. She looked at him for a second then promptly burst into tears.

"What did you say to her?" Ron asked sharply, running over to them with Harry following behind him.

"I-I don't know!" Draco said, panicked.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry said.

"Oh God Draco! I'm so sorry! I love you so much no matter what happens!" She cried.

He didn't know what to say or do so he just held her until she stopped crying. She sniffled and whispered to him, "Why don't we take a walk?"

The night had fallen and there was fairy lights twinkling around the dancers. The moon was full and cast its light on the couple as they held hands and wandered across the field. Like always they ended up at their rose garden. He lit the candles in the hanging jam jars and lost his breath when he looked at her. She was so beautiful in her knee-length scarlet coloured dress. Her chestnut curls were like a curtain surrounding her heart shaped face.

"You know, we didn't get to dance much tonight." He said to her slyly.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

He bowed dramatically and extended his hand, "May I have this dance, Ms. Granger?"

She suppressed a giggle and answered solemnly, "You may."

He waltzed with her around the white flowers. He hummed under his breath for music. They didn't speak; they didn't need words to express their happiness and comfort. He kissed her gently. She wrapped her arms around him and he ran his hand up her back.

"Want to go swimming?" She murmured to him. She led him to the pond and stood beside its black glass surface.

"We don't have bathing suits." He said. She smirked at him. Then, hesitantly pulled off her dress. She stood before him in her underwear. Beige strapless bra and white underwear. He smiled. She looked slightly nervous so he took off his button-down pants and dress shirt until he stood beside her in his boxers.

He stepped into the water and she followed. She still looked tense so he splashed her. She gasped and splashed him back. He sent a tidal wave towards her and shoved it back. It was an all-out water war. He kissed her wet lips and touched her dripping locks. The kissed got deeper. He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes, asking her a question only she could answer. She nodded and he smiled.

They went out deeper in the water, until Draco's toes could barely touch the bottom. Soon, they were rolling around under the water, only coming up for air when they felt like they would die. They both lost their innocence in that secret pond. They gave each other all they had and were now bonded. A little while later, they gathered their clothes and held hands back to the mansion. The guests were gone and the field was dark and empty. He kissed her goodnight in front of her door and went back into his own room. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He loved Hermione so much and now she was _his _and he was _hers._

The next morning he knocked on Hermione's door to bring her to breakfast but she didn't answer. Frowning, he pushed open the door and gasped at the sight of the empty bed. Ice filled his lungs and his legs became lead. He stumbled over to his bedside table and in the place of Hermione's favourite book, The Secret Garden_, _was a simple note in her swirling writing:

_I'm so sorry. I love you._

**A/N ooh oooooh! Hermione left! Stay tuned for the next chapter ad for Gods sake: REVIEW! I hardly get reviews and thank you for adding my story to your favourites but come on! I need to know what you think! and the more reviews i get, the faster i update so there you go. **


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N okay here is the second last official chapter. Then tthe epilogue and we're done. I own nothing because im just a kid. **

Draco had never been angrier in his life. He spent his days storming around the house and shouting at anyone who crossed his path. He smashed things and knocked things off their shelves. He aimed a kick at Crookshanks and avoided the garden like the plague. He was in a _really _terrible mood one day when Ginny finally snapped.

"Stop acting like you're the only person who lost someone! We're _all _missing them!" She shouted at him.

"You don't know what it's like! It's different – Ron was your brother! I love Hermione!" He yelled back.

"You are so self-centered! You only ever notice yourself so of course you wouldn't get that I love Harry as much as you love Hermione you cruel, insensitive, selfish, arrogant _dick head!" _She screamed at him with tears blurring her brown eyes.

He was about to shout another insult when he realized she was right. He wasn't the only one in pain here. He looked at Mr and Mrs Weasley, their son was missing, Ginny's true love was gone and his own heart had left him. They were all hurting for the trio. After that he sunk into a depression. Ginny left for school but he couldn't go back with her. Narcissa wasn't speaking again and Mr Weasley worked a double shift. Draco assumed it was because he couldn't stand to be in the house – you could literally feel the grief in the air. If he could, he would escape too.

He couldn't remember much, looking back on that year. Only little things popped from his memory. Like seeing in the newspaper that someone had broken into the Ministry of Magic. Draco prayed it wasn't the trio – it was way too dangerous with a very narrow escape. He heard that more and more people were dying. People were going missing. The world was in chaos. About a week before Christmas he snapped out of his frozen state by the arrival of Ron.

He apparated outside the gate than walked straight into the house. Mrs Weasley was half heartedly putting up Christmas decorations, Narcissa was helping and Mr Weasley was reading the newspaper, grimacing every so often.

"Hello." Ron said softly from the doorway.

"Ron! Oh, Ronnie!" Mrs Weasley cried and threw herself into his arms. She sobbed into his shoulder while everyone else just sat there in shock.

"Where's Hermione?" Draco asked anxiously. He looked out into the frosty front yard but didn't see her.

He came back inside and asked in confusion, "Where is she?"

Ron looked awkward and ashamed and didn't answer. Draco got a really bad feeling, "I said, where is she?" He growled.

"She's not here." Ron muttered.

"THEN WHERE IS SHE?" Draco screamed. He went four months without seeing her and right now his anger was about to explode.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Ron shouted back.

"You left without her? You left her alone and unprotected?" Draco asked horrified.

"She's not unprotected, Harry's there." Ron muttered. The silence was shocked and angry.

Draco stood there stunned for a second. Then his anger kicked in. He leaped at Ron and punched him in the face. Then hit him again. And again. Again. Again. Again. He kicked and hit and screamed at Ron until Mr Weasley put the body freezing spell on him. Draco was absolutely shaking with rage. Ron tried to explain that he just got into a fight with Hermione and Harry and he got caught by a group of Snatchers. He said he tried to apparate back but he couldn't find them. No one wanted to hear it.

"Get. Out." Draco growled.

"Wh-what?" Ron said, shocked.

"Leave now. Before I kill you." Draco said with forced calm.

Ron looked to his mother and father for support but they wouldn't meet his eye. He headed for the door and looked back once. No one stopped him. So he left. After that, Draco was ruled by his anger. He didn't know if Ron went back to them or not but Ron could die for all he cared. Draco got more involved with the Order's work and even became a DJ for the radio broadcast, PotterWatch.

It was near the end of March when he remembered something Luna said to him.

"Mother." He said seriously, "I think I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me."

"Really?" She said in surprise, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I love her so much and I know she's alive! The next time I see her, I'm bending down and asking her to marry me." He said fiercely.

"Ask her with this ring." Narcissa said, pulling off her own wedding ring.

"No, mother! I can't take you wedding ring!" He exclaimed.

"It's an old family heirloom. It has been in the family for years. It just gets handed down for the next marriage. So now it's your turn with it." She said benignly.

The ring was beautiful. It was sterling silver with a sparkling diamond resting on the top. You could tell the ring was an antique, but it was so finely cut that it was still beautiful. There was a saying written in Latin with curling letters on the inside of the ring, _Verus Diligo._

"What does that mean?" He asked his mother.

"True love."

He strangely felt his eyes misting up and hurriedly wiped the tears away. Malfoy's _didn't _cry. He pocketed the antique ring and went back to dusting the bookshelf.

Ginny came back from Hogwarts and told them all the horrifying details about her school life and Mrs Weasley didn't let her go back. She explained to Draco all about how they started up the DA again and how Luna hasn't been heard from since Christmas. He hated feeling scared and alone all the time. He hated this war. He hated that people he grew up knowing were killing people. He just wished the war could be over.

Sometime in June, Ginny gave them a strange message, "Neville just sent me a message through the DA coins! Harry, Ron and Hermione are at Hogwarts!"

Mr Weasley called all the members of the order and they all trooped down to the Hog's Head bar. Aberforth was getting a bit annoyed with all the traffic that picture frame was getting but he grudgingly let them through. Draco stepped out behind Fred and George Weasley and beside his mother and saw a crowd of familiar faces. He saw Luna and Harry and a group of kids he went to school with. Except for the Slytherins. But he couldn't find Hermione or Ron.

Harry and Luna whisked off to find something in the Ravenclaw tower and everyone disbanded to fight Death Eaters. Mr Weasley made him, Ginny and his mother stay in the Room of Requirement. They didn't listen and snuck out. Draco was rounding a corner when he heard Harry ask someone, "Where have you two been?"

He felt his heart stop when he heard his favourite voice answer, "We were getting Basilisk teeth from the Chamber of Secrets."

He ignored how little sense that statement made and focused on _her._

"Hermione." He breathed.

**A/N im not really sure what to say but please please review! And while i was writing this chpter i couldn't stop listening to 'Almost Lover' by A Fine Frenzy. It seemed like a really good fit. **


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N this is the Very. Last. Chapter. *sob* im really going to miss it...**

She turned around and chocolate eyes met silver ones. She gasped in shock. Draco couldn't help but stare at how different his girlfriend looked. There was a fierceness in her eyes, a strength and hurt that wasn't there before. Her hair was longer and wilder and her face and body was skinnier and grungier. He didn't know if he wanted to scream at her in rage for leaving or cry with relief for her safe return. She looked to be having the same internal struggle.

He settled for pulling her into his arms. She was absolutely shaking with tears and he could feel his own tears leaking from his eyes. She was sobbing and he could feel her body tremble.

"Hermione." He whispered. "Hermione."

He couldn't help but say her name. It was beautiful and right now, it felt like a prayer.

"Let's give them some room." Harry muttered to Ron and they left. Draco didn't even see them go; he was so wrapped up in seeing his true love again. He remembered what was in his pocket and slowly let go of Hermione to bend down on one knee in dusty and destroyed hallway. There was bangs and screams, but Draco could hear nothing but Hermione's breath.

"Hermione, I-I love you and the year we spent apart was agony for me. I was in hell every day! Being apart was so painful it stole my breath. I couldn't go a second without thinking of you or wishing to see your face again. I never want to feel that hurt again so, Hermione, will you... marry me?" He whispered.

She stood there stunned for a second then her face broke out into a huge smile. "Yes!" She screamed and launched herself into his arms. She was crying again, but this time from joy. He slid the ring onto her finger and she touched it gently.

"It's lovely." She said.

"It's an old family heirloom." He replied.

There was another massive crash and the castle shook. "Let's get out of here!" Draco cried, pulling Hermione behind him.

"Is there any chance of you staying hidden in Room of Requirement until this is all over?" Draco asked, not really expecting the answer he wanted.

"Not a chance!" She cried.

"Yeah, didn't think so." He said sadly but not altogether surprised.

They raced down the hallways, trying to avoid spells and overturned columns and other dangerous debris. They saw McGonagall charming the suits of armour to protect the school and Professor Sprout muttering dangerous plants. Then two Slytherins stepped out in front of them.

"Way to go, Malfoy! You caught the mudblood!" Crabbe shouted eagerly.

"Let's give 'er to the Dark Lord!" Goyle said, reaching for Hermione's arm. She jabbed her wand into his face and glared fiercely at him.

"Filthy mudblood!" He cried.

"Don't you _dare _all her that!" Draco growled.

"What's wrong with you? It's just Granger." Crabbe said, confused.

"It's not just Granger! I didn't expect you two morons to get it." He said, exasperated.

"Morons, are we?" Goyle said stupidly and pulled out his wand. But Draco was faster and stunned both of them before they had time to even blink.

Draco stared at them in disgust. He couldn't believe he had ever thought of those two idiots as 'friends'. Well, he never actually trusted them and to be a friend, you probably should trust people. He and Hermione kept on fighting and watching each other's backs. It was very different fighting beside someone you trust; you can always count on them to protect you. Filch past them by, leading a group of students to safety. All the students were being evacuated as the Death Eaters invaded. They passed a window and Draco saw acromantula scurrying through the grounds. Giants and other frightening creatures were smashing and killing wizards – people from the Order and Death Eaters alike.

A Death Eater sent a killing curse far too close to Hermione. The spell singed her hair as it went by her ear. Draco froze for a second, shocked at how close Hermione came to death. Then he promptly sent a stunning spell towards the Death Eater. Voldemort's voice suddenly surrounded them, demanding that Harry come to him. Voldemort explained that he would spare everyone else's life if Harry came to him in one hour. Hermione paled.

"He'll go. I know he will. He'll think that he's being noble by sacrificing himself for the sake of everyone else. I can't let him go in there alone!" She cried.

"We'll find him." They raced down the hall past screaming people and small explosions. Hermione kept running into the Great Hall but Draco stopped when he felt something touch his arm.

"Who's there?" He asked sharply, looking around the hall.

Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak and faced him looking worried, resigned and anxious.

"Potter! Everyone's looking for you! I'll get Hermione – she's not letting you face the Dark Lord alone!" Draco said to him, because no matter his own personal feelings for Potter, he was Hermione's friend and Draco would do anything for Hermione.

"No, shut up before anyone comes out here. I'm going into the forest to end this! Someone has to before anyone else is killed. But I wanted to let you know, that Voldemort's snake needs to die." Harry said seriously.

"Nagini?" Draco asked, "Why?"

"It's a long story – Hermione will explain later. But the snake has to die. As soon as you have an opening, kill it. Use the Killing Curse or a Baskilisk fang or the Gryffindor sword or something. Use something that will definitely kill it." Harry turned to go, but Draco held him back.

"Wait! I just wanted to say I'm... sorry for the way I treated you throughout school. It was childish and stupid." Draco said, embarrassed but truthful.

"It's okay. I was a prat as well." Harry smiled in an embarrassed kind of way.

"And I wanted to tell you that Hermione and I are getting married." Draco said, lighting up when he said it out loud. It was really true. He was really getting married to her. He smiled.

"Oh, congratulations! I'm so happy for you both! Please take care of her and always protect her." Harry said solemnly.

The bang shook that castle and startled Harry and Draco out of their conversation.

"So, um, good-bye, I guess." Harry said awkwardly. "Take care of yourself and Hermione. And Ginny please. Please protect her for me. Tell her I love her. And don't forget the snake!" He called over his shoulder as he ran towards the forest.

Draco walked into the Great Hall where he knew Hermione was and felt completely shocked with the room. The dead were laid out in a row in the middle of the room while the injured were near the front getting healed. Hermione was with the other Weasleys' but Draco couldn't see what they were all crowded around. He got closer and stumbled. Fred Weasley was laying still and pale on the ground beside his family. Hermione was crying silent tears and Mrs Weasley collapsed against Fred's chest and was sobbing hysterically.

Draco put his arm around Hermione and she immediately snuggled closer to him. Being close to her gave him strength, he wondered if she felt the same way about him. George Weasley was staring at his brother in complete shock and Ginny was crying as hard as her mother.

Draco leaned over and whispered to her, "Harry loves you."

Surprisingly, her tears stopped and she nodded. It looked like she knew that Harry had given himself up and she had accepted that. Besides her slight shivering, she was holding up pretty strong.

A little while later, they heard a sound like a cow screaming and the beat of many footsteps. Everyone ran outside and started screaming.

"Harry!"

"Oh, my God!"

"Please, not Harry!"

"HARRY!"

Harry Potter lay dead in Hagrid's arms as the half-giant carried him towards the castle, tears dripping down his face onto Harry's robes. The 'cow screaming' sound was Hagrid's sobs.

Ginny had succumbed to her tears and was screaming with rage and pain. Draco thought that he saw Harry's face flinch but he must have been mistaken. Bellatrix was laughing manically and Hermione was clutching onto Draco and sobbing into his shoulder. He tried to be strong but emotion overcame him and he felt a few tears slide down his pale face. Hagrid laid Harry's body on the ground by Voldemort's feet.

Neville Longbottom raced towards Voldemort, attempting to hit him. Someone put a body freezing spell on him and Voldemort laughed.

"Oh, who is this little brave warrior?" Voldemort said cruelly, but amused.

"That is Neville Longbottem , my Lord." Draco's aunt said.

"Oh, really? Well, Neville Longbottom, you show bravery and you come from noble blood. You would make a good Death Eater." The Dark Lord said silkily.

"I'll join you when Hell freezes over! DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY FOREVER!" He shouted, punching his fist into the sky. A million voices cheered for him, including Draco's.

"Very well." The Dark Lord waved his wand and the Sorting Hat fell into his arms. He put it on Neville's head and lit it on fire. Neville's body was frozen and he was screaming with absolute pain.

Draco saw Nagini by her master's feet, ignored by everyone but him. He took advantage of the distraction Neville caused and lunged forward screaming, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NO!" Voldemort howled and the spell on Neville broke. He whipped off the hat and threw a curse at a Death Eater. The fight started again. It was even more deadly and gruesome than before. And somehow, Harry's body had disappeared.

Draco focused on keeping Hermione protected, but he also kept Ginny in the back of his mind as well. He wouldn't break his promise to Harry. A scream shook his focus.

"We're sisters, Bella, _sisters!" _Narcissa cried with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You're now sister of mine! You traitor!" Bellatrix screamed and sent a killing curse towards her sister.

Narcissa managed to avoid it and sent a stunning curse back Bellatrix's way, but it was a very weak spell. Draco could tell she wasn't trying as hard as she could. Obviously she felt she couldn't hurt her sister even though Bellatrix was doing her best to kill her. Draco didn't feel such sympathy.

He tried to stun her and she whipped around gleefully, "Oh, Draco." She almost purred, "Are you trying to win against your Aunt Bella?"

He sent another spell towards her and Narcissa put a shield around him.

"NOT MY SON, BELLATRIX! THIS ENDS NOW!" She shouted. The continued to fight with such an intensity, they hardly seemed human. Bellatrix sent one final curse to her sister when Narcissa hit her squarely in the chest.

Narcissa looked down at her older sister's dead body with a strange expression in her eyes. Something like sorrow, anger and regret.

"Hello, Tom." Someone said from the front of the hall. Draco turned to see it was Harry. Some people screamed. Some people shouted 'Ghost!'. Draco wasn't sure he was seeing correctly.

"How dare you use my filthy father's muggle name on me? How do you even know it?" Voldemort seethed.

"I know a lot of important things, _Tom. _Like, this war is over tonight. And you and I both know I'm going to win. You have no more Horcruxes, no more shields to hide behind. You are a mortal, just like me. You can be killed." Harry said quietly.

Voldemort shouted 'Avada Kedavra' just as Harry was shouting 'Expelliarmus'. Somehow, the killing sure rebounded off of the disarming charm and in a split second, Voldemort was dead on the floor. It took a good thirty seconds of silence for that fact to sink in with everyone. At once, everyone started shouting. People were crying with relief and shock.

Finally, people settled for sitting and enjoying their new found freedom with their loved ones at the house tables. Draco took Hermione's hand and they took a walk around the lake, basking in the rise of the new sun. Today was a new day. And he and Hermione could spend it together.

**A/N Oh. My. God. Its really over! Please please please review because this one is the last one ever! This story was so important to me and i want to thank all of you for reviewing and adding my story to your favourites. I really wouldn't have finished the story without you guys. So please review and keep writing! PS, theres an epilogue coming, ;p **


	15. Epilogue

**A/N okay so this is really good-bye. *sad***

Draco stood at the front of the aisle beside Harry and Ron and the minister waiting for his bride-to-be to appear. The music started and his heart stopped. Luna walked out first in a lilac coloured dress carrying white roses from the secret garden. Then out came Ginny with the same coloured dress and flowers. And then he saw Hermione. He had never seen anyone look so beautiful. She was wearing a strapless white gown that went all the way to the floor with a purple bow around her waist. Her long hair was artfully twisted at the back of her head. She was also carrying white roses, but unlike her bridesmaids, hers was tinged purple. Her father was walking her down the aisle with tears in her eyes and a sad smile on his face.

Hermione got to where Draco was standing and her father lifted her lacy veil off her face. There were tears shining in her brown eyes and her lips were turned up in an excited smile. The minster went about the wedding like any other wizarding wedding. They tied their wands together and held hands as a spell whispered by the minister bound them as husband as wife. Then they got their wands back and exchanged rings.

"You may now kiss the bride." The minister exclaimed.

Draco pulled her towards her and they shared their first kiss as a married couple. Everyone cheered and Draco could feel Hermione smile.

She led him onto the dance floor and the music started up. He had let her pick the song for their first dance and she picked some muggle singer. The song started up and it was obvious that no one but Hermione's parents and Harry knew who it was. But Draco had listened to it beforehand it seemed fitting.

_I see trees of green, red roses too  
I see them bloom for me and you  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world._

Hermione snuggled her head against Draco's shoulder and he twirled her around the floor.

_I see skies of blue and clouds of white  
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world._

The sun was shining on them and he was holding his wife in his arms without having to worry about being hunted down and murdered. It was a wonderful world.

_The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky  
Are also on the faces of people going by  
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do  
They're really saying I love you._

Hermione leaned up and gently kissed his cheek. He was so happy at that moment, it didn't even feel real.

_I hear babies crying, I watch them grow  
They'll learn much more than I'll never know  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world  
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world. _

The music stopped and he kissed Hermione as she went off to dance with her father. He went over to the edge of the dance floor to where his friends were standing.

"That was a very lovely muggle song you chose, Draco!" Luna said dreamily. "It's very fitting, isn't it? The war is over, we're safe now. It is a wonderful world!"

He took a deep breath and nodded. They were standing in the huge garden of Blossom Manor with the cloudless sky above them and the scent of apple blossoms in the air. It was just a week before Hogwarts would start again and Hermione and Draco were planning on going to finish their seventh year. He was excited about being able to show her off to all his old Slytherin 'buddies'.

"Hello, son." A familiar voice said nervously.

"Dad! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Azkaban! What – how – I mean – " Draco stuttered, incoherent with shock.

"I just got out. You didn't think I'd miss my own son's wedding, did you?" He asked, teasing gently.

"Um, you do know who I'm married to, right?" Draco asked, confused.

"Hello!" Hermione said brightly as she came up beside Draco, but her smile wilted when she saw who he was talking to. "Hello, Mr. Malfoy." She said softly.

"Hello, Ms. Granger." He said stiffly.

"Actually, it's Mrs. Malfoy now." She grinned.

He scowled and said coldly, "Congratualtions." Then he stalked off with Narcissa trailing behind him.

"He hates me." Hermione said sadly.

He couldn't stand to see her so sad on their wedding day, not when she was positively glowing thirty seconds before his father had shown up.

"I'm so sorry, love. I'll try and talk to him." Draco was loyal to his father of course, but he was married to Hermione now and he wouldn't let anyone come between them.

"Not right now. Let's just go dance and think about real life troubles tomorrow." She said with that ever so annoying yet endearing Gryffindor optimism.

He spun her around the floor while she laughed. He danced with his mother and Mrs Weasley and Ginny and Luna and Fleur and his Aunt Andy. Hermione was twirled around by all the Weasley boys, Harry, Viktor Krum and they laughed as the sun was sinking lower into the sky.

Finally, it was near to pitch-black with only the moon and candles to light the lawn. Draco was sitting with Hermione at a table. Just talking. Well, more accurately arguing.

"I'm just saying that you're incredibly stubborn!" He exclaimed.

"I'm not stubborn! I just think that Quidditch is a waste of time!" She cried back.

"Ouch! You hurt me with your words! Quidditch is a game of strategy and cunning! Not just some silly sport!" He loved to argue with her like this. It made her eyes flash and her cheeks burn pink, which was extremely attractive.

"Excuse me."

They turned around to see Narcissa and Lucius standing behind them.

"Hello, mother. Father." Draco said coolly.

"I wanted to apologize for the way I acted. It just took me by surprise. Who you were marrying, I mean. But I want to start fresh and be a family." Lucius looked as if those words were pushed out by force but he had never apologized for _anything _before, so this was quite amazing. And even if he didn't completely mean it, it was a start.

"Oh! Um, thank you!" Draco said, surprised.

"Yes..." Hermione was clearly confused but smiled at her father-in-law anyways.

Narcissa kissed Draco and Hermione each on their cheeks and then left with her husband. After they had gone, Mr and Mrs Weasey came over to talk with them.

"For your wedding present from us, we decided to get you something useful." MRs Weasley said mischeviously.

"You didn't have to get us anything!" Hermione cried.

"Yes we did. We got you something that you could use for the rest of your life!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.

"The owners' of the manor never use it and we've seen how much you two love it here, so our gift to you is Blossom Manor." Mr Weasley said, handing them a silver key.

"Oh my God!" Hermione cried.

"Thank you so much! This means so much to us both, we'll owe you forever!" Draco exclaimed. The two Weasleys waved that off and went off to get something to drink.

"So you want to take a walk with me?" Draco asked his new wife.

"Lead the way!"

As they left the party Draco looked over his shoulder and saw Harry and Ginny snogging in a corner, his parents dancing far too close to be modest, Luna and Ron chatting at a table and his Aunt Andy holding her baby grandson, Teddy. Nymphadora and her husband had died in the war, much to the sadness of everyone. George was talking quietly to Angelina Johnson and looking haunted but vaguely happy. Draco was glad everyone was at peace.

They arrived at their secret garden and Draco held her in his arms and kissed her gently.

"I can't believe this place is ours now!" Hermione whispered.

"I know. We have our own house already! And I'd thought we'd be living with me parents forever. I'm glad we have a place to call our own." Draco murmured looking around at his beautiful wife and his lovely garden.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." He whispered back.

It was a beautiful world.

**A/N oh god its really really over this time! So... thank you and ciao! Oh and btw, the song was 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. **


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